Mexican-grown papayas are being recalled after concerns that they may have led to a salmonella outbreak involving 97 people in 23 states. Agromod Produce announced Saturday that it is recalling papayas sold before July 23, which comes in four brands: Blondie, Mañanita, Tastylicious and Yaya.
10 people have been hospitalized, but no deaths have been reported. Salmonella can cause severe diarrhea and poses the most risk to infants and the elderly. This outbreak affected patients as young as one to as old as 91 and 41% of the patients are younger than 5 years old. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Food and Drug Administration are still investigating the sources of the outbreak.
The outbreak was first reported in January and only 57% of the patients interviewed said they ate papaya, according to an FDA release. The FDA added that the culprit strain was Salmonella agona that was found in papayas at the company’s location in McAllen, Texas, and at the U.S. border en route to Texas, though neither were in shipments distributed in the U.S. Ten other papaya samples from Mexico have tested positive for salmonella, but were different strains than the outbreak strain.
In the meantime, the FDA advises consumers who have papayas from Agromod to throw them away in a sealed container so other people or animals can’t eat it; an Agromod news release asks consumers to return the papayas to where they were purchased.
Earlier this year, Cantaloupes from Guatemala were linked to a 20-person salmonella outbreak. A 25-person outbreak was linked to eating alfalfa sprouts and spicy sprouts between April and July. There was a similar egg related outbreak in 2010 with nearly 2,000 people infected. FoodSafety.org suggests washing the produce even if it is going to be peeled before consumption.
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