The Top 10 Everything of 2008

3. Salmonella Saintpaul

Because of this bacterium, Americans began to reconsider onion dip after a two-decade romance with salsa. In June, the Food and Drug Administration reported that at least 145 people had become sick from consuming a rare strain of salmonella called Salmonella Saintpaul, which got its name from a researcher in St. Paul, Minn., who isolated it in 1942. Initially the blame fell on raw tomatoes, and millions of Americans stopped buying the fruit (yes, it's a fruit). Yet the outbreak continued — more than 1,400 people got sick before it ended — and FDA officials eventually concluded that tainted jalapeno and Serrano peppers, not tomatoes, were spreading the salmonella. They also said the offending peppers probably came from Mexico, not the U.S.

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