July 30 (Bloomberg) — Consumers shouldn’t eat serrano peppers from Mexico, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said after tests showed a sample of the peppers from a farm there was contaminated with salmonella.

Irrigation water at the farm, in the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon, also was tainted with the bacteria, said David Acheson, the FDA’s associate commissioner for foods, during a House hearing today. Tests showed the salmonella at the farm was the same strain that has sickened more than 1,300 people, according to the FDA.

“We have a smoking gun, it appears,” said Lonnie J. King, an official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, during the hearing by the Agriculture Committee’s subcommittee on horticulture and organic agriculture. “It also appears likely that more than one food vehicle has been involved in this outbreak.”

The agency said consumers should continue to follow its July 25 advice to avoid eating raw jalapeno peppers from Mexico. Investigators traced a contaminated sample of jalapenos to a farm in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. Raw tomatoes initially were linked to the illnesses by the U.S. in June, and officials said they can’t rule out that they played a role.

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