Update below
I would like to say that I am not in favor of being careless with food, of people getting sick, etc. etc. Around here, we are quite careful with our stuff. In the past we HAVE been careless with enticing green and red and brown salsas sitting in little bowls on tables in Mexican restaurants, including Mexican restaurants in the US of A (The Land of the Free as my friend Susan is fond of calling it) in spite of the excellent advice of my daughter-in-law NOT to eat salsas sitting on tables for long periods of time. We're better about that now after more than one unpleasant aftermath following gorging on some delicious stuff far more irresistible than potato chips and onion dip.
But normal common sense in handling your own food is all that's needed in the case of this salmonella scare. There's something truly nutty going on with this saintpaul salmonella business. Now it's the poor jalapeño pepper that has been dragged to the lynching post. If it were mad cow disease, it would be different: a fatal disease you can't detect in your food nor treat once you've consumed its bearers. But this isn't mad cow disease, it is salmonella! It's a common food-borne disease! People don't even go to the doctor for it most of the time! Sometimes they don't even know they have it!
AND You CAN protect against it. It's pretty easy. Here are the precautions that the CDC recommends in its most recent post on salmonella saintpaul:
Consumers everywhere are advised to follow the general food safety guidelines below:
* Refrigerate within 2 hours or discard cut, peeled, or cooked produce items.
* Avoid purchasing bruised or damaged produce items, and discard any that appear spoiled.
* Thoroughly wash all produce items under running water.
* Keep produce items that will be consumed raw separate from raw meats, raw seafood, and raw produce items.
* Wash cutting boards, dishes, utensils, and counter tops with hot water and soap when switching between types of food products.
If you follow these rules, you won't get salmonella from any of the food so treated even if there was salmonella on it to begin with.
I
Furthermore, there's little to indicate that salmonella saintpaul is more of a culprit at present than other salmonellas, let alone other food-borne diseases. Here, for instance, is a clip from an article posted at the Williamson County and Cities Health District site in Texas. Notice how sensible it is. Notice in the charts how more people have been found to have non-saintpaul salmonella than saintpaul salmonella.
Although there is no question that
Williamson County is experiencing an outbreak of Salmonella Saintpaul, it is
important to note that reporting for all Salmonella usually improves during
outbreaks due to the heightened awareness produced by media coverage and the
public health response. With increased publicity and awareness, individuals are
more likely to visit a health care provider and health care providers may be
more likely to order diagnostic laboratory testing that allows the specific
bacteria to be identified.
|
Gender
of 2008 Williamson County |
||
|
Gender |
%
Cases |
%
Cases |
|
Female |
38.7%
(12/31) |
55.6%
(5/9) |
|
Male |
61.3%
(19/31) |
44.4%
(4/9) |
|
Age
of 2008 Williamson County Salmonellosis Cases (as of 7/15/08) |
||
|
Age
Range |
%
Cases |
%
Cases |
|
<1 |
12.9%
(4/31) |
11.1%
(1/9) |
|
1
- 4 |
22.6%
(7/31) |
0%
(0/9) |
|
5
- 14 |
6.5%
(2/31) |
0%
(0/9) |
|
15
- 24 |
3.2%
(1/31) |
11.1%
(1/9) |
|
25
- 39 |
16.1%
(5/31) |
33.3%
(3/9) |
|
40-64 |
35.5%
(11/31) |
33.3%
(3/9) |
|
>64 |
3.2%
(1/31) |
11.1%
(1/9) |
According to US news sources and the CDC, they've found ONE sample of jalapeño pepper with this strain in a McAllen, TX distribution center, and now poor ole Mexico is left holding the bag once again. So instead of telling people "...they should avoid raw jalapeño peppers and foods that contain them if they were grown, harvested, or packed in Mexico" why don't they just tell them to follow normal food safety guidelines in the use of jalapeño peppers?
AND they are still telling people to avoid serrano peppers from Mexico.
It's no wonder Mexican producers and packers are becoming paranoid. They see the issue as one in which the US is trying to circumvent NAFTA to favor US products over Mexican products in the US, especially since this is the season for NEW Mexican chiles, abundant competitors to Mexican chiles.
Here's a translation of most of an article in yesterday's La Jornada, written by Matilda Pérez U, describing current Mexican reactions.
[Telling US consumers to avoid jalapeños] "'is a dirty FDA stategy to protect US farmers,' says Heladio Ramírez. 'Its a game of the sick free market, this campaign against the Mexican chile jalapeño.'
"The National Caucus of Rural Legislators maintained that the FDA's warning to consumers to avoid raw Mexican jalapeño chiles is a 'dirty campaign to protect US growers.' This 'game' is causing millions of pesos of damage to Mexican producers...
"The FDA maintained today that all the samples that they had taken in various places -- they didn't specify either the number of samples nor the places--originated in Mexico, and for that reason they were now going to determine if the salmonella came from a particular region or farm.
NOTE: ¡In reports available in the US, it was only reported that it was only one sample found in one warehouse in McAllen, TX! And it may have been only one pepper! And how come they don't know where that one sample came from?
"The Mexican government is hoping that agricultural health authorities of the United States will be able to present as soon as possible scientific evidence to show that their public pronouncements conform to the letter and spirit of international trade treaties.
"Mexican production of jalapeño chiles approaches 720 thousand tons. Its value is estimated at $200 million dollars and the continuation of this commercial uncertainty, said César Fragoso, a non-governmental representative of the chile industry, will damage the economy of 40 thousand producers in Chihuahua,San Lois Potosí, Querétaro, Guanajuato and Michoacán.
"He was adamant that US authorities are using the public health issue to stop exportation of Mexican chiles [to the US] in order to favor the producers of Las Cruces, New Mexico, who are now harvesting their chiles.
"Heladio Ramírez López, former director of the National Confederation of Farmworkers, commented that the attitude of the US 'isn't new; the US makes the rules, distorts them, and then walks all over them of course in its own interests; they play a very aggravating game. They´re now doing the same thing with the jalapeño chile that they did with tomatoes.'
"The Mexican government, the President of the Senate's Commission on Rural Development added, has to raise the volume and show that we are a serious, responsible country, that our producers work very diligently to export products that are not harmful and are of good quality.
"What really angers him, he added, is that the government hasn't done anything to stop the US from imposing infranqueables barriers to Mexican products on the basis of suspicions alone, something they've done also with strawberries, avocadoes and other products.
"The director of Senasica (the national agricultural health and quality service), Enrique Sánchez Cruz, said that they might have the scientific results of the tests on jalapeño chiles done in some of the northern zones this Wednesday."
Other articles have pointed out that US recommendations to hold Mexican produce for ten days to insure they are healthy means the products will rot.
Below you will see a chart from the Centers for Disease Control which shows the extent of the total outbreak of salmonella saintpaul by state.
If you look at it even briefly, you'll see that the biggest outbreaks have been in Texas and in New Mexico. Even they aren't huge. None of them are. But could this outbreak (smaller in at least one county than of other forms of salmonella) be due to the New Mexican chiles from Las Cruces? Could it be? Has anyone tested them? I remember those chiles being so abundant in San Antonio at this time of year that they were tumbling out of bins in supermarkets, were offered roasted for sale on streets, etc. etc.
An interesting note: the HEB supermarket chain (still my favorite supermarkets) which has hundreds of stores throughout Texas and northern Mexico reported that it was pulling its jalapeños with regret because while it didn't seem it could sell them at this point, they had never received a report of anyone getting salmonella from eating Mexican jalapeños or tomatoes bought in an HEB.
Okay. To sum up:
1. We should all take sensible precautions to clean our produce and avoid using damaged produce.
2. WE can control whether or not we ingest salmonella in our own homes.
2. Salmonella is NOT mad cow disease.
4. Different strains of salmonella are very common in the US.
5. There is no evidence that the US should be crushing the Mexican chile and tomato industries to track down this particular outbreak.
Incidentally, the CDC is tracking an outbreak of e. coli in hamburger. It offers good home meat-handling safety procedures. A particular lot of ground beef from Krogers has been recalled. It was recalled AFTER the disease was traced to that particular lot. In the meantime, all ground beef remained in stores.
AND in March, there was an outbreak of salmonella traced to canteloupe. In this case, ONE Honduran company was identified as the source of the problem.
Both of these outbreaks were considerably smaller. Why was the response so much more precise and seemingly so much more effective?
Update:
After reading this, Jim suggested that I brushed off that indeed salmonella could be serious for vulnerable populations. Indeed it can. And I would think that avoiding raw products in restaurants as well as food like salsas left for unknown periods of time on tables would be a good rule to follow for anyone at risk. Because of our agroindustrial practices, food-borne illnesses are likely to spread in surprising ways, and are likely to crop up with some frequency, whether they be salmonella of one sort or another or something different.
Right now loads of large, heavy, coarse-coated, ovoid zapote mameys are piled on pickups and wheelbarrows, some cut open and shaped as flowers or stars to show their deep salmony flesh, on the streets of Coatepec. They are grown in enough abundance to provide such heaps, but I don't think they have yet become a commercial crop of the industrial agriculture sort: I don't think there are giant orchards of them anywhere. They are, in fact, referred to in a UN publication as a "neglected crop." But they are being considered for use in restoration of local agriculture for providing for local people. AND some consideration to the development of an export market is being given. The questions people ask for this possibility include the use of preservatives on the skins, effects of refrigeration and so forth. AND there is a need to know whether there would be or could be a market abroad for such fruit. Just ask me! There already is a small market abroad for frozen mamey.
I love zapote mameys, scientifically known as pouteria sapata. They are indigenous to the lower altitudes of Veracruz as well as humid, warmer areas in a number of other Mexican states and some of Central America. Here is a picture I took to show you a whole one, some slices, and the seed. The seed, except for a natural split area in the outer coating, is quite shiny, like polished dark wood.
Sometimes I just cut one open and scoop out and eat the flesh. It has a kind of sweet-potatoey-peachy flavor with an avocado texture. Sometimes I cut hunks to put on cereal. One will last me four days.
Here is a good basic article on mamey zapotes from Wikipedia. A more detailed article can be found here. You'll recognize this as the source for a fair amount of what I say about them.
You don't see them so much anymore, but there used to be tons of street vendors that sold pieces of fruit wrapped in paper with various kinds of chili powder sprinkled on top. We always avoided these because of fear of germs. On our part, this was definitely reasonable, but most Mexicans I know ate the stuff freely. I think a good investment would be to develop some easy to use knife and fruit cleaning solution and to maybe encourage use of hand sanitizers and have a renaissance of these stands....so much better than junk food, to buy a shell of diced zapote sprinkled with chiles! And they are loaded with nutritious stuff.
Otherwise, you can pretty well use them for the same things you use other fruits for: syrups, smoothies, ice cream and so on. The seeds, ground up, can be used in making chocolate and in making soaps and shampoos and other skin products as well as for a number of pharmaceutical products as can the leaves and unripe fruit. The sap can be used in chewing gum. The wood is strong and useful as lumber.
The hope is that mamey zapote trees, which can also shade coffee plantations will increase in importance in the development of sustainable forestry/agroforestry projects. Not only is the tree and its fruit useful as product, but the tree itself contributes to soil improvement and mitigates erosion and apparently is beneficial in keeping away insect pests from other crops planted with it.
Mamey and other fruits from the Caribbean-Mesoamerican area are finding homes in South Florida. Here is a clip of a talk on Mamey trees from Fruitscapes, a University of Florida extension website. It has lots of information about mangoes, avocadoes, and other fruits, too.
While I was zipping around looking for online information on mamey zapote, I came across this delightful cooking site in Spanish. Check it out!
Recently it has been on the news that Mexico is supposed to be the second fattest country in the world. ¡Qué lastima! When we first came to Mexico twenty five years ago, it was extremely hard to find a chubby person, let alone someone fat. Fruit stands were everywhere, and a favorite treat was cubes of fruit with chile powder sprinkled on it. Drinks that refreshed were aguas, kind of like our -ades. Unfortunately, in urban and semi-urban and even into rural areas, sodas and junk food have replaced a lot of this fruit as beverages and snack food. People learned well the dangers of unboiled or untreated water, but unfortunately, instead of replacing the bad water with good, they have often replaced the bad with sodas. Soda is, in fact, often cheaper than bottled water and may be cheaper than boiling water. As I've said before I HATE the Coca Cola Company and similar outfits. They not only have contributed to weight gain, diabetes and tooth rot (most Mexicans have had rotten teeth pulled by the time they are eighteen) Coke also buys land with fresh spring water on it and keeps it for themselves...for bottling and for soda.
GRRRR!
Here is a picture of guavas. They are kind of small, maybe two to three inches in diameter.
Anyway, there is still plenty of fruit in markets and supermarkets and people still do make aguas de fruta. Aguas are the normal beverage offered at comidas corridas -- meals of the day in local restaurants. They are delicios and thirst-quenching AND good for you. Often no sweetening is needed at all. Here is a recipe for agua de Guayaba -- guava-ade. I think you can figure it out, but just in case you can't, it's translated below.
RECETA DE AGUA DE GUAYABA
Categoría: Bebidas
Enviada por: Anónimo
Ingredientes
9 tazas de agua purificada o hervida
8 guayabas limpias
Miel o azúcar (al gusto)
Procedimiento
Pelar las guayabas y partirlas en pedazos. Licuarlas con el agua y añadir la miel o el azúcar si necesario. Servir fría o con hielos.
NOTA: Se pueden sustituir las guayabas por cualquier otra fruta.
Guava-ade
Category: drinks
Sent in by Anonymous
Ingredients
9 cups of purified or boiled water
8 clean guavas*
honey or sugar to taste
1. Peel the guavas and cut in pieces.
2. Put them in the blender with the water and add honey or sugar if necessary. Blend till smooth.
3. Srve cold or with ice.
Note: you can substitute any other fruit for the guavas.
*Here people wash their fruit carefully. Unlike folks in the U.S. they don't expect that it will be sterile when they buy it. They just expect it to be delicious!
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