Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>]

Salmonella found in basil grown in Mexico
FDA finds the germ in herbs imported by a Garden Grove firm. The product is 
recalled in three states.
>From Bloomberg News
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fi-basil12-2008jul12,0,7439022.story
July 12, 2008

Salmonella, the bacterium that has sickened more than 1,000 Americans who ate 
tainted produce since April, has also been found in Thai basil grown in 
Mexico.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration identified salmonella during random 
testing of basil imported by Lucky Green Trading Inc., a family-run company 
based in Garden Grove, the agency said Friday. The product has been recalled 
from Southern California, Arizona and Nevada, where it was distributed 
directly and sold in retail stores.

FDA officials have boosted inspections of Mexican exports as they look for 
the origin of the Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak that has spread to 42 states 
since mid-April. Although the focus has been on certain types of tomatoes 
grown in Mexico and Florida, officials said this week that jalapenos caused 
some illnesses and serrano peppers and cilantro also were under investigation.

"Every importer from Mexico has to go through the inspection," said Tony Ton, 
whose family runs Lucky Green. "That's a new thing. Every year, we used to 
have one or two occasions where FDA has to do a random inspection."

No illnesses have been linked to Lucky Green's herbs. The firm's Thai basil 
comes from the town of Santa Rosa Tapachula in Nayarit, a state on the 
west-central coast of Mexico. It sells no other products this time of the 
year, Ton said.

Three shipments of Thai basil from the same Mexican grower passed inspection 
last week, so Lucky Green is checking on whether the latest batch was 
contaminated by another grower in the same area, Ton said.