Two Mexican growers of green onions implicated in last year's hepatitis A outbreaks in Beaver County and elsewhere have sought approval to resume shipments to the United States, but the Food and Drug Administration has turned them down.

FDA inspectors visited the farms three weeks ago and found continued problems with water quality as well as with the food safety and hygiene practices of workers, according to an FDA spokesman.

Inspectors who visited the farms June 1-4 did not find hepatitis A virus in the water supply at either Tecno Agro Internacional or Agro Industrias Vigor, the two companies seeking permission to resume shipping to the United States. But the FDA said inspectors observed practices that "could potentially lead to another [intestinal] pathogen outbreak."

"They took some remedial measures ... but there hadn't been enough progress," Lester Crawford, acting commissioner of the FDA, said in an interview yesterday following a speech to the Association of Food and Drug Officials Convention at the Pittsburgh Hilton, Downtown. "We're not ready to lift the restrictions at this point."

The FDA banned shipments from the companies and two others during its investigation of the hepatitis A outbreak among patrons at the Beaver Valley Mall Chi-Chi's Restaurant. The outbreak sickened 660 people and was blamed for four deaths.

Based on interviews and observations conducted during a December inspection of Mexican growers, U.S. investigators found problems ranging from inadequate hand-washing facilities to worker health. Investigators also questioned the quality of water used by green onion growers in fields, packing sheds and ice makers.

At Tecno Agro Internacional, inspectors noted that bathroom and hand-washing areas were not located near the icing areas, said Michael Herndon, spokesman for FDA. They also raised concerns about the microbial quality of water used to wash produce in the packing area, as well as that used for employee hand-washing, he said.

At Agro Industrias Vigor, inspectors observed hygiene problems among workers. Some left the packing area for lunch breaks or to use bathrooms, but then returned to the packing area without removing or replacing their gloves, according to Herndon. Employees were even observed taking harvesting tools into portable toilets, Herndon said.

Crawford yesterday reaffirmed FDA's belief that the scallions were contaminated at the Mexican farms where they were grown. But Ernesto Rubio, a Mexican government official who also addressed the convention yesterday, said his government still doesn't see it that way.

"We are not sure that this problem originated in Mexico," Rubio said in an interview. "It is not so easy to have conclusive evidence because once you export, it goes through different hands and how many hands ... is not so easy to determine."

The Beaver County outbreak came about six weeks after smaller outbreaks in Tennessee, Georgia and North Carolina. Those outbreaks were also linked to green onions served at restaurants.

Hepatitis A rates in Beaver County have returned to normal.