This summer’s outbreak of Salmonella Saintpaul infected 1,442 people in 43 states, the District of Columbia and Canada, but local restaurant owners say it did not change much in Champaign-Urbana.

Investigations by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) first linked the outbreak to three varieties of raw tomatoes. Later, jalapeno and serrano peppers were cited as the cause of contamination.

At the beginning of this summer’s outbreak, raw red plum, red Roma and round red tomatoes were cited as the source of the illnesses, which can cause fever, abdominal cramps and diarrhea. But even during the tomato recall, the supply at Antonio’s Pizza on Green Street was safe.

“Our tomatoes come from California somewhere, so we were clear for it the very same day,” said Mohamed Dardir, the restaurant’s manager.

Antonio’s was able to keep serving its tomatoes because the FDA listed California among a group of states and regions that did not produce tomatoes connected to the outbreak.

But the tomatoes at Pita Pit on Green Street did not come from an area the FDA declared as safe, so manager Chris Silva decided to stop offering them for a while.

“A lot of people were upset that we were not serving tomatoes, even though it was pretty much against the law to do so,” Silva said.

When the FDA lifted its warning about consuming tomatoes from certain areas, Silva said he still dealt with some worried and confused customers.

Since not all restaurants stopped or started serving tomatoes at the same time, Silva said customers were unsure about the possible risks associated with eating them.

“Some people were worried when we started serving them again,” Silva said. “So I hung up fliers saying ‘Illinois has been cleared by the FDA.”

Later, when fresh jalapeno and serrano peppers were connected to the Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak, Antonio’s Pizza was safe again. This time, so was Pita Pit. Managers of both restaurants said they serve only canned jalapenos, not fresh ones.

Restaurants in the area remained relatively unaffected by the outbreak, and public health in Champaign County was also unharmed, said Lori Holmes, spokeswoman for the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District.

No cases of Salmonella Saintpaul were reported in the county during the months of June, July and August, Holmes said.

The county reported 15 cases of Salmonella during those months, but none of them were tied to tomatoes, jalapeno peppers or the national outbreak. The Saintpaul strain of the illness only affected 18 people in the United States from April to August 2007.

Silva said this food recall and others like it are more of an annoyance than a threat to health or food safety.

“It’s a nuisance,” Silva said. “You never really know when you’re going to be able to change back to the normal menu, and you have no information to give to your customers about when you can go back.”

Even without much information, Dardir said consumers understand why restaurants take precautions to prevent food-borne illnesses.

“They would rather have safe food than try to risk it,” Dardir said.