WASHINGTON - The big dark cloud no longer hangs over that summertime favourite - the tomato.

No more wondering what types are safe to eat, or if you're buying them from the right state. The government gave the all-clear Thursday to eat all varieties of tomatoes again.

It has lifted its salmonella warning amid signs that the record outbreak, while not over, may finally be slowing.

That's not to say that tomatoes weren't responsible in the first place - ones harvested earlier may have been, the Food and Drug Administration said.

Hot peppers now are the probe's main focus.

Federal health officials reiterated that the people most at risk of salmonella, including the elderly and anyone with weak immune systems, should avoid fresh jalapenos and serranos, and dishes that may contain them such as fresh salsas.

Investigators still don't know what caused the salmonella outbreak, which now has sickened 1,220 people in 42 states - the earliest falling ill on April 10 and the latest so far on July 4.

In all, only five Canadians were sickened, four of whom had recently visited the U.S.

Thursday's move comes as the tomato industry estimates its losses at more than $100 million.

"This is not saying that anybody was absolved," said Dr. David Acheson, FDA's food safety chief.

But, "as of today, FDA officials believe that consumers may now enjoy all types of fresh tomatoes available without concern of becoming infected with salmonella Saintpaul," the outbreak strain.

Early on, there was good evidence linking certain raw tomatoes - plums, Romas and red rounds - to the sick, Acheson stressed.

Yet inspectors haven't found the outbreak strain on any farms, in suspect areas of south Florida and parts of Mexico, where they've managed to trace tomatoes that were thought to have been eaten by patients.

Nor are those farms still shipping tomatoes.

As the outbreak stretched into last month, more evidence emerged against fresh jalapenos. The FDA sent inspectors to a Mexican packing house that supplied peppers linked to a cluster of those illnesses.

Also still on the suspect list is fresh cilantro.

Could peppers have caused the entire outbreak, and just been missed early on?

"We're not in the business of speculating," Acheson said. "Clearly, many will. We're just trying to follow the science, and that's what we've done."

Now the puzzle is how multiple types of produce could be contaminated with what is a rare type of salmonella.

One possibility is that a large farm grew tomatoes in one section and peppers in another, and both went through a common washing station with contaminated water, Acheson said.

The tomato industry - which held an unprecedented meeting with FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach and other officials on Monday - welcomed the announcement.

"We have long been confident that Florida's tomatoes were not associated with the salmonella Saintpaul outbreak," said the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange.

"Tomatoes from Florida's growing regions have been gone from the marketplace for weeks, so they could not have been the source of the contamination."

In Monday's meeting, the industry urged FDA to share more details of its investigation so producers could offer more possibly helpful information.

If the sick were more likely to fall ill from chain restaurants than mom-and-pops, for instance, the industry could help point FDA toward different lines of suppliers, explained Kathy Means of the Produce Marketing Association.

The FDA promised to consider the request.

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