Mexico Still Not Cleared in U.S. Tomato Salmonella Case
Mexican tomatoes from most of the country's tomato-producing states have been given the green light to enter the U.S., except Sinaloa, which produces 80 percent of the country's exports, according to a Dow Jones report.
Following a temporary ban on all Mexican tomato imports to the U.S. stemming from a widespread salmonella outbreak in 15 states, restrictions were eased last week after bilateral talks between the two governments.
U.S. authorities are still investigating the source of the outbreak, including tomatoes from Florida and the northeaster state of Sinaloa, which so far has been left off the Food & Drug Administration safe origin list.
Officials from Mexico's sanitation agency, Senasica, met last week in Washington with officials from the FDA to try to convince the agency to consider all of Mexico a safe origin.
Mexican officials contend there is "no evidence at this moment" that the salmonella outbreak in the U.S. was caused by tomatoes originating from Mexico, and repeated earlier arguments that no salmonella cases have been reported out of Sinaloa.