The Mexican government said that "so far there is not enough evidence" to determine the source of contamination and salmonella outbreaks in Canada and the United States, allegedly linked to a national brand of mangoes named Daniella, so on the 24th of August, the Canadian Food Safety Agency (CFIA) along with North American Produce marketer, warned the public not to consume this product.
According to information from the National Health Service, Food Safety and Quality (Senasica) and the Federal Commission for Protection Against Health Risks (Cofepris) Mexican experts are working with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), officials from California, United States, and with the CFIA in Canada, to analyze the earlier events of both countries, in order to provide technical and scientific data that support their statements.
The work group of experts noted that preliminary information shows that there is no sufficient evidence to establish an association between the consumption of certain types of mangoes and the presence of salmonellosis caused particularly by the type Branderup salmonella, since the outbreak investigation did not include sampling. As a result they the source of the outbreak coming from a particular product can not be confirmed.
According to a statement from Senasica, in the United States an investigating of the outbreak has begun, particularly in California. However the source nor the origin of the contamination can be confirmed, so the FDA has increased its sampling at all points of entry at the border, but has not gotten the laboratory results.
The group of experts emphasized that neither Canada nor the United States have conclusive data to support their communications.
In monitoring
As for Mexico, it was reported that the National Network of Public Health Laboratories coordinated by the Institute of Diagnosis and Epidemiological Reference (InDRE) performs continuous surveillance of the causative agents of diarrhea and
random sampling of food and drinks.
Based on this information, the InDRE concluded that the Braenderup salmonella is a rare serotype in Mexico that in the past 11 years has not been the origin of outbreaks.
The Department of Epidemiology of the Ministry of Health reports that although this bacterium is present in our country is in a smaller proportion than what was expected and so far no Salmonella-related outbreaks have been identified to have occurred, pointing out that for now there is no health problem associated with the consumption of an specific kind of mango.
Senasica announced that since August 24th, initiated its procedure of alert throughout the mango production sector of the country, within which it inspects the Agricultural Daniella in Sinaloa. Similarly, technicians from Senasica and Cofepris took product, water and environment samples, which will be analyzed by the Secretariats of Health and Agriculture.
An action plan was distributed between the productive sector of the country describing the measures to prevent and reduce microbiological contamination risks in mango during the production, packaging, transport and distribution process.
Source: Expreso