Wednesday, July 23, 2008; Posted: 3:18 p.m. (CDT)
Jalapenos and Mexican restaurants typically go hand in hand.
Tim Wagner, Cocina De Mino Managing Member, says, "It's one of your key ingredients. If you're a Mexican restaurant you've got to have jalapenos."
But investigators say they found a jalapeno pepper contaminated with salmonella. It's prompting the FDA to warn consumers and prompting some local restaurants, such as Cocina De Mino, to modify some traditional dishes.
"The pico de gallo looks awful strange with no tomatoes in it," says Wagner. "The pico de gallo is going to look strange again because it's not going to have jalapenos in it."
For now, the restaurant will only serve its jalapenos cooked.
Wagner says, "We are not serving any fresh, chopped jalapenos."
Customers seem to have some strong opinions when it comes to not having the fresh peppers.
Manuel Morfin, a customer, says, "It's hard. We have to have it."
Another customer, Alfredo Gonzalez, says, "Always! You got to have the hottest jalapenos."
Either way, all seem to agree it's better to take precautions.
Wagner says, "In this instance, we feel like our product is safe but we're just going to make that call to be careful."
More than 1,200 people in 42 states have been sickened by salmonella since April. Last week, investigators lifted the warning against tomatoes.
