July 11, 2008

Advice to Consumers

Update: UPDATE OF SALMONELLA SAINTPAUL SITUATION IN CANADA

Ottawa, July 11, 2008 - Public Health officials in Canada have reported four cases of Salmonella Saintpaul infections that match those associated with the outbreak in the United States. All of the cases became ill upon return from travel to the United States, suggesting they were infected during their trip. Cross border cases are expected given the size of the outbreak in the U.S., and travel by Canadians to the U.S. Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) officials will continue to work with their colleagues in Canada and the U.S. to monitor the situation and assess further cases.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is continuing to follow the outbreak investigation related to Salmonella Saintpaul by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The U.S. government announced recently that a recent study and disease cluster information provided by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) indicate that not only tomatoes, but also raw jalapeno and serrano peppers may be linked to illnesses in this continuing outbreak.

Canadians travelling to the United States should be aware of US advice to consumers on raw jalapeño peppers or raw serrano peppers. In addition, if they choose to eat raw tomatoes they should ensure that they are on the FDA safe list.

Consumers should be aware that tomatoes grown in Canada have not been implicated in the U.S. investigation. It is unlikely that Canadian-grown cilantro, jalapeno and Serrano peppers would be implicated as they were not in production during the time of the outbreak. Once the source of contamination has been determined by the US investigation, the CFIA will initiate the proper action to minimize the risk to consumers.

CFIA and PHAC want to inform Canadians that both the FDA and the CDC continue to update their respective websites to provide on-going information about their investigation. The FDA has updated their website to include a list of tomatoes that are not associated with the U.S. outbreak. The list is being updated as new information becomes available and can be viewed at: http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/tomatoes.html. More information on the CDC’s investigation is available at http://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/saintpaul/.

For more information, consumers and industry can call the CFIA at 1-800-442-2342 / TTY 1-800-465-7735 (8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern time, Monday to Friday). People who believe they have experienced symptoms of illness are urged to contact their health care provider.

For information on Salmonella, visit the Food Facts webpage at http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/fssa/concen/causee.shtml

Media enquiries:

Public Health Agency of Canada
Media Relations: (613) 948-7970

Canadian Food Inspection Agency
Media relations: (613) 228-6682

Previous updates:
July 23: Advice to Consumers: Update of Salmonella Saintpaul situation in North America 
July 18: Advice to Consumers: Update of Salmonella Saintpaul situation in North America 
July 17: Advice to Consumers: Update of Salmonella Saintpaul situation in Canada 
July 11: Advice to Consumers: Update of Salmonella Saintpaul situation in Canada 
July 7: Advice to Consumers: Update of Salmonella Saintpaul situation in Canada 
June 8: Advice to Consumers: Outbreak of Salmonella Saintpaul in the United States