USDA: left hand doesn't know what right hand's doing

As the soap opera continues to play out in the big salmonella scare in tomatoes, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has suddenly decided it wasn't tomatoes afterall, and is now fingering jalapeno peppers used in salsa, as the culprit.

This is after farmers, wholesalers, grocers, restauranteurs, and ordinary consumers have lost millions on recalled tomatoes and lost sales of all tomatoes. Now it's "oops, we're sorry" and jalapeno pepper farmers, wholesalers, grocers, restauranteurs and ordinary consumers will lose more money and sales, as USDA still doesn't have its act together.

In the first place, neither tomatoes or jalapeno peppers are likely carriers of salmonella. It is a very weak pathogen, and the acid in tomatoes and capucin in peppers would likely kill it.

Even more likely, since USDA says the use of both tomatoes and jalapenos in salsa caused the outbreak, the combination of the two, along with the likely addition of either vinegar or lemon and lime juice that is common in salsa, would certainly kill salmonella.

Scaring the public is a USDA specialty, as beef producers know from the recent E. Coli recalls. Just like the old joke "Where does an elephant sleep? Anywhere he wants to," USDA blunders in unannounced and uninvited. It's CYA time for the professional bureaucrats, just in case something is found, they can say "see, I told you so."

This is a very expensive, dilatory and needless waste of taxpayer's money. USDA needs to keep quiet, unless it has definitive proof. They're already received as the little boy crying wolf.