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(UPDATED
COVERAGE, July 14)
A Food and Drug Administration investigation into a positive salmonella
test on Anaheim peppers at a retailer’s distribution center hasn’t
identified the source of the contamination.
Georgia produce
company recalled one lot of its Anaheim peppers after a positive
testing from New York’s department of agriculture found peppers
contaminated with salmonella.
Herring Produce, Lake
Park, Ga., voluntarily recalled peppers with the lot number 0801206 July 8,
according to the Food and Drug Administration. The company shipped the
peppers June 9-19 to distributors and brokers in New York, Ohio and
Massachusetts. Contaminated peppers were found at a Wegmans Food Markets
Inc. warehouse.
Danny Herring, co-owner,
said the company notified distributors and brokers who purchased the
peppers by July 2, when the positive test came up. The company did not
issue an official news release until July 8 because of an ongoing FDA
investigation, and because of the agency’s recommendation.
“FDA didn’t suggest we
make a news release until last week,” Herring said July 14. “We were really
surprised. We follow all GAP (good agricultural practices) guidelines.
There were other places in the supply chain that this could have happened.”
Rochester, N.Y.-based
Wegmans Food Markets Inc. took the peppers off its shelves July 2, after
the New York State Department of Agriculture & Markets’ positive test.
Wegmans
posted a recall on its Web site, www.wegmans.com, that includes all peppers sold since
June 11.
Eben Kennedy, produce
category merchant for Wegmans, said the traceback has not shown where the
peppers were contaminated, and they have not been linked to any illnesses.
“They investigated us,
but determined that … what they found on ours couldn’t be linked to any
disease outbreak,” Herring said.
Herring said its Anaheim
pepper season was finished once the positive test came out, so it is no
longer shipping the peppers.
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