U.S. Officials Stymied in Salmonella Search

By Amanda Gardner and Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporters
Wednesday, July 2, 2008; 3:00 AM

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TUESDAY, July 1 (HealthDay News) -- With the number of people sickened in the nationwide salmonella outbreak now standing at 869, with 107 hospitalizations, U.S. officials acknowledged Tuesday that they were no closer to identifying the source of the contaminant.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration also announced it was expanding its investigation to include food items normally served with tomatoes. While tomatoes are still the leading suspected source of the bacterial infections in the two-month-old outbreak, officials said they can't rule out other food items associated with tomatoes. But, they declined to say what those other foods might be.

"It would be irresponsible of us at this point to say where we are expanding the testing," said Dr. David Acheson, the FDA's associate commissioner for food protection. "I'm not prepared to discuss what those items might be."

"The tomato trail is not getting cold, rather other items are getting hotter," he added.

Acheson said the FDA has also activated the Food Emergency Response Network, which could bring to 100 the number of laboratories across the country working to identify the source of the outbreak. The network has been activated before, specifically during the spinach outbreak and the contaminated pet food outbreak in 2007.

Dr. Robert Tauxe, deputy director of foodborne, bacterial and mycotic diseases division at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also said at the teleconference that his agency was conducting a multi-state investigation focusing on the 179 people who have fallen ill since June 1. He did not explain why the CDC was zeroing in on that group of people.

Meanwhile, the advice to consumers remains the same, Acheson said. Avoid raw red plum, red Roma, round red tomatoes, and products containing these raw tomatoes.

To date, infections have been reported in 36 states and the District of Columbia, making it the largest produce-linked salmonella outbreak in U.S. history. There have been no deaths, officials said.