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**There have now been 1,017 confirmed cases of illness in the US following the initial outbreak of Salmonella serotype Saintpaul almost 12 weeks ago, according to an Australian Food News report.**

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) confirmed at a recent press conference that 203 people had been hospitalised due to the outbreak.

Dr Robert Tauxe from Centres of Disease Control and Prevention advised that the crisis was the worst foodborne disease outbreak in the past decade: “This ongoing outbreak is now one of the largest outbreaks of Salmonellosis ever in the US, and it’s the largest foodborne outbreak of any sort in the last 10 years based on a number of culture-confirmed cases."

The crisis has been attributed to raw tomatoes, though investigations by the CDC and the FDA indicate that Jalapeno Peppers may have played a role. The location and cause of the outbreak has yet to be established and has thrown into question the traceability of the US food supply chain.

Farmers are angry with the way the situation has been handled as there has only been a link between tomatoes and jalapenos to the disease but not conclusive evidence.