While the mystery still isn’t completely solved - Food and Drug Administration officials have now advised consumers to avoid fresh jalapeno peppers. Authorities aren’t sure how the contamination occurred - but they did find the same salmonella strain blamed for the three-month-old outbreak on a Mexican-grown jalapeno handled at a Texas distribution facility. This does not mean raw tomatoes have been cleared as a possible cause - but the FDA says those tomatoes currently on the market are considered safe to eat.

With this latest development - Senate Ag Committee Chairman Tom Harkin has reiterated his call for FDA to initiate a food safety trace-back system. He says it’s long past time for the government to act to improve the response to outbreaks of food-borne illnesses.