The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared tomatoes from 28 Mexican states and Mexico City for import this week, but Jalisco and Sinaloa tomato crops remain under suspicion for having caused a widespread outbreak of salmonella north of the border.

Friday, June 27, the FDA reported several individual farms in the two Mexican states and Florida – which have not been named – have not yet passed inspection for Salmonella Saintpaul, which has reportedly poisoned nearly 600 people in the United States since April.

Earlier this month, the FDA implemented a temporary moratorium on tomato imports from Mexico, which was linked to the outbreak early on.  The United States imports approximately 80 percent of its tomatoes from Mexico.

Mexican agricultural officials, who estimate the nation has lost as much as 200 million dollars in export sales as a result of the ban, met with FDA officials in Washington D.C. over the weekend and pushed for speedy “traceback” investigations of tainted tomatoes and clearance for states whose crops tested negative.

In a Friday press conference, FDA Director of Food Safety and Security David Acheson, stressed that, though the tainted tomatoes likely originated in Florida or Mexico, they weren’t necessarily contaminated there.  He said investigators would work with Mexican public health officials to inspect packing sheds, warehouses and distribution centers in addition to the farms.