With the winter harvest season right around the corner, consumers are curious about food safety.  Tomatos and jalapenos were ripped from menus all across the country when a salmonella outbreak sickened more than a thousand people, but experts say local folks may be a lot safer than they thought.

The desert southwest as been well known as the nation's salad bowl.  Now growers in both Arizona and California face tougher rules in the field.

"The produce that's grown here in the Yuma area is under a very strict collection of production guidelines. Everything from water inspection to soil ammendment inspectionsJ," says Kurt Nolte with the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension.

If you live in the desert southwest, chances are your grocery store is stocking items picked from local fields.  That's according to agricultural experts who say our shrinking wallets have driven down demand for Mexican produce.

"Last year, perhaps, we had as much as ten-percent of the product grown in Mexico. This year with the economy the way it is, that could be reduced."

Experts say many Americans are instead opting for low-cost non-perishables.  Still Mexico remains as the wildcard in the food safety equation.  Afterall last summer's salmonella scare was traced to Mexican-grown jalepenos.

An official with the Food and Drug Administration told KSWT's sister station in Tucson,"Clearly, we don't have enough inspectors."  Reports claim the FDA is now beefing up operations.  Both local and federal officials are developing new technology to tag produce.  Much like a computer chip, the tags will potentially offer information about when and where an item was picked for better quality control.