Friday's federal update left the arithmetic unchanged and the central question unanswered. The Salmonella Javiana outbreak tied to fresh jalapeños holds at 431 illnesses across 32 states, with 57 hospitalizations and zero deaths; the last illness began August 2. [1] The count is the same figure this paper reported yesterday, which is precisely the point.

The traceback still ends where it ended last week. Investigators have the region, jalapeños grown in Sinaloa, Mexico; the distributor, Coast Citrus Distributors; and the downstream cascade of recalls. What the public record still does not contain is the name of the grower whose field started it. [1][2]

The restaurant chapter stays closed. Chipotle switched suppliers July 20 and QDOBA ceased using the peppers July 28, both before the last illness onset, and regulators maintain neither chain poses an ongoing risk. [1] CDC's investigation page carries the same standing instruction it has for weeks: check for recalled jalapeños, do not eat, sell, or serve them. [3]

Weeks into an outbreak spanning a third of the country, Food Safety News' tally of what is known versus who is responsible reads as the real ledger: a distributor named, a dozen corporate recalls filed, and the farm itself still anonymous behind the supply chain's paperwork. [2] The count will drift upward as states reconcile their books. The name may never arrive at all.

-- NORA WHITFIELD, Chicago