Well done Agromod Produce of McAllen, Texas. The fruit distributor is voluntarily recalling all of their fresh, whole papayas because they may be contaminated with Salmonella. Yikes.
The papayas, including their Bondie, Yaya, Mañanita, and Tastylicious brands were imported from Mexico and were distributed to stores throughout the United States and to Canada. This recall does not have anything to do with Hawaiian papaya or papayas from other countries. The recall just impacts papayas from Mexico from this particular company, Agromod.
The recalled papayas may be linked to 97 reported cases of Salmonella in 23 states.
The labels to look out for are the following:
- Blondie 4395 Mexico (a blue and orange sticker label with green and white lettering)
- Yaya Premium Papayas Yaya PLU-4395 Mexico (a yellow, red, orange, and green label with white, green and red lettering)
- Mexico Mañanita 4395 (a green, yellow and red sticker label)
- 4395 Tastylicious MEXICO (a white and blue sticker with red and white lettering)
Salmonella are bacterial parasites and master escape artists capable of evading multiple immune responses and causing a harsh and debilitating intestinal infection.
Researchers have come closer to understanding how these bacteria manage to thwart two major categories of immune defenses at once and set up shop in a host organism, like humans and other animal species.
An Emory University study found that one of these proteins, named AvrA, not only shuts down the key immune signaling pathways JNK and NF-kB, but also turns off the fail safe system organisms have evolved to respond to irreversible threats. This ultimate immune defense, called apoptosis, eliminates invaders along with the infected cells through a system of programmed cell death.
In previous research, the scientists had showed that AvrA could suppress some aspects of immune system signaling in cell culture, but they wanted to study the protein in a whole animal system.
Andrew Neish, MD, Emory professor of pathology and laboratory medicine explains about his research:
” Bacterial proteins are notoriously difficult to study. We were able to study salmonella infection and the associated proteins and signaling mechanisms in a whole animal, which gave us information we could not have gained from a cell culture dish. Using drosophila genetics, we found a biochemical crossroad required for both immune and apoptotic pathways. The AvrA protein is able to key in on the exact site of the biochemical network and allow it to suppress both the inflammatory response and the apoptotic immune response at the same time. We suspect that other pathogens may target the same biochemical network to avoid elimination. These immune pathways in drosophila have been preserved across evolution and are remarkably similar to human immune pathways. This is such a powerful research system that any bacterial or viral genes would be amenable to study through this approach.”
To evaluate the effects of AvrA in natural salmonella infection in mammals, the scientists used a mouse model of salmonella infection and found that AvrA suppressed the same immune signaling pathways and apoptotic reaction as in the drosophila model. A mutant form of the salmonella lacking the AvrA protein caused an enhanced inflammatory immune response and markedly more cell death in the mouse intestine.
Catalopes from Mexico were also denied U.S. access due to salmonella fears in 2008. Basically, just be aware of your papayas with the labels stated above when you’re craving the tropical fruit.
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Written by Sy Kraft