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

The government gave the all-clear yesterday to eat all varieties of tomatoes, lifting its salmonella warning amid signs that the record outbreak, while not over, finally might 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.

But 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 April 10 and the latest so far July 4.

The tomato industry estimates its losses at more than $100 million.

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. 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.

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, said Dr. David Acheson, FDA's food safety chief.