State agriculture officials hope to declare Georgia-grown jalapenos safe to eat when the results of testing come back soon, possibly by Friday afternoon. Jalapeno-samples have been collected from farms across Georgia over the past week.
Federal investigators recently discovered a strain of salmonella on a single pepper from a Texas distributor. That prompted a nationwide warning to avoid buying or eating raw jalapeno or Serrano peppers.
State Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin is not happy with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and its approach to the warning and recall:
"That killed the market...that was overkill. One sample for the whole two nations--Mexico and the U.S--that’s ridiculous. ...we’ve got to get them to understand that when they(FDA)speak they need to have some validity about what they’re saying, but don’t overkill. (It's not good)for the consumer, and makes no market for the farmer".
Irvin says he doesn’t want Georgia’s jalapeno market to suffer like the tomato-market did, when the salmonella outbreak hit several weeks ago and sickened over 1,200 people in 43 states.
Irvin says test results on Georgia jalapenos could come-in as early as tomorrow afternoon, latest by Monday.
Federal investigators recently discovered a strain of salmonella on a single pepper from a Texas distributor. That prompted a nationwide warning to avoid buying or eating raw jalapeno or Serrano peppers.
State Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin is not happy with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and its approach to the warning and recall:
"That killed the market...that was overkill. One sample for the whole two nations--Mexico and the U.S--that’s ridiculous. ...we’ve got to get them to understand that when they(FDA)speak they need to have some validity about what they’re saying, but don’t overkill. (It's not good)for the consumer, and makes no market for the farmer".
Irvin says he doesn’t want Georgia’s jalapeno market to suffer like the tomato-market did, when the salmonella outbreak hit several weeks ago and sickened over 1,200 people in 43 states.
Irvin says test results on Georgia jalapenos could come-in as early as tomorrow afternoon, latest by Monday.
