Press Release vs. News Article

The Food and Drug Administration published a press release regarding the investigation into the recent salmonella outbreak in peppers spices from the retailer Wholesome Spice.  I then found an article from The Orgeonian regarding the recent outbreak and recall.

According the press release from the FDA the salmonella outbreak has not officially been linked to one item in particular.  The FDA is searching for the source.  The press release also says that there are 44 states that have confirmed cases of salmonella in the United States.  People have contracted salmonella from a "variety of ready-to-eat Italian style meats".  Since the outbreak the meats that have made people sick have been called and pulled off the shelves.  In Rhode Island there have been sample of black pepper from within the state that have tested positive for salmonella.  The FDA is currently leaning in the direction that the pepper is responsible for the recent outbreaks.

In the article, it reads that there have been "pepper-related" salmonella cases beginning in Oregon in the middle of last year which was when the recall began.  This is something that the press release from the FDA failed to put in their release.  The article then goes on to say that scientists first believed that the outbreaks were caused by salami, which matches the press release.  The salami was then pulled off shelves before there was further tracking down of the origins of the salmonella.

For the most part, the article and the press release have the same basic ideas and information.  However, I believe that the article focuses more on the fact that pepper has been the main cause of the salmonella outbreaks in the United States while the press release says that it is still under investigation whether that is the main source.  The press release was published on Feb. 17 and the article was published on Feb. 26 and there is the possibility that there has been alterations in the press release and information that I was unable to find.  It seems like the article was exaggerating that the pepper is the cause of the outbreak, when it is not 100 percent known if that is true.