The outbreak of Salmonella Saintpaul, which has sickened 1,304 in 43 states and Canada, has revealed any number of instant experts, armchair quarterbacks and food safety posers advancing their own agendas.

Tonight, the Laboratory Services Division of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has confirmed that a jalapeno pepper provided by an ill individual from Montezuma County has tested positive with the same DNA pattern of Salmonella Saintpaul-the strain that has caused a large, multistate outbreak of salmonella.

The pepper was purchased at a local Wal-Mart, likely on June 24, and the individual became ill on July 4. This is the first pepper linked directly to an ill person in this outbreak.

The state health department is working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to determine the origin of the pepper.