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[*] posted on 12-1-2003 at 08:29 PM
U.S. inspectors investigate Mexican onion exporters after deadly hepatitis outbreak

http://pennlive.com/newsflash/pa/index.ssf?/base/internation...

The Associated Press
12/1/2003

MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) ? U.S. inspectors visiting the Mexican state of Baja California on Monday began investigating four onion exporters linked to a hepatitis outbreak that killed three people and sickened more than 600 in Pennsylvania.

Three inspectors from the Food and Drug Administration and one from U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention started their probe Monday in the Mexicali Valley, where green onions make up 90 percent of the fruit and vegetables produced.

They are also expected to visit other green onion-producing areas outside the border city of Tijuana and the coastal town of Ensenada.

"Our investigators are talking to owners and employees of these firms. They are looking for possible opportunities for contamination," said John Guzewich, director of emergency coordination and response at the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.

The team, which is being accompanied by Mexican health and agricultural officials, will visit fields, packing and shipping plants and interview owners and employees as part of a probe that may take up to two weeks, Guzewich said.

Health officials say 615 hepatitis A cases, including three deaths, have been linked to contaminated green onions from Mexico and served at a Chi-Chi's restaurant at the Beaver Valley Mall northwest of Pittsburgh.

Mexico's Agriculture Department responded by shutting down the four export companies ? three owned by U.S. firms ? because the plants did not comply with national health standards.

"We think all or some of (the firms) in some combination caused U.S. citizens to become ill and so we want to assure that they are not shipping contaminated food," Guzewich said.

In the Mexicali Valley alone, there are 15,600 acres of green onions with an estimated commercial value of $44 million, according to Mexican Agriculture Department statistics.

Mexico sends nearly $3 billion in produce to the United States each year.

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