Mexico says no signs of salmonella in any produce

MEXICO CITY, July 6 (Reuters) - Mexico said on Sunday there was no evidence that a salmonella outbreak in the United States came from Mexican produce, amid reports U.S. officials will probe jalapeno peppers grown south of the border.

"In Mexico there has been no salmonella outbreak in recent months, and definitely not of the type (of salmonella) being seen in the United States," Mexican agriculture ministry spokesman Marco Antonio Sifuentes told Reuters.

Sifuentes said Mexico has not been told of any U.S. plans to expand a probe into Mexican produce beginning on Monday, which was reported by CNN on Thursday. "Nobody has told us anything," Sifuentes said.

U.S. health officials are struggling to find the source of the outbreak.

Tomatoes continue to be the primary focus of the probe but officials have expanded the investigation to include produce commonly eaten with them like cilantro, jalapeno peppers, serrano peppers, scallions and bulb onions, CNN reported.

Mexico has not detected salmonella in any of these products, Sifuentes said.

There have been at least 943 reported cases of salmonella food poisoning nationwide since mid-April, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on its Web site. The FDA says at least 130 people have been hospitalized.

An FDA spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

U.S. inspectors are currently in the western Mexican state of Sinaloa taking samples at tomato farms to try to verify Mexican claims no salmonella is present there, Sifuentes said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says Salmonella Saintpaul, the strain involved in the outbreak, is rare. Typically, the CDC sees only about 400 cases of Saintpaul infections in humans each year.

Salmonella can cause fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain, according to the FDA. (Reporting by Jason Lange; Editing by Eric Beech)