Customers at El Rey del Taco in Doraville love the restaurant's sneaky house salsa —- a creamy blend in which the mild flavor of avocado suddenly gives way to the sting of fresh jalapeno pepper. But they may soon have to eat their tacos al pastor without it.

"Today we have to order the jalapenos again," manager Alberto Juarez said Tuesday, "and we'll see what they tell us."

Juarez was well aware that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had turned its attention from tomatoes to jalapeno and serrano peppers as another potential cause of the widespread salmonella outbreak that has sickened more than 1,200 Americans since April 10.

The FDA's warning to avoid consuming these hot peppers was the talk of Spanish-language radio in Atlanta that morning. Juarez knew it was likely to affect his business as much as the recent three weeks without any fresh tomatoes had. But he also knew there was no choice.

"We can't take a risk," Juarez said firmly.

Yet restaurant workers, grocers and food consumers along the immigrant-filled stretch of Buford Highway from Atlanta to Doraville all offered differing reactions to the potential risk posed by these two ubiquitous Mexican peppers. The jalapeno, in particular, has become so commonplace in the American food supply that its use has migrated into Indian, Korean and Vietnamese cooking.

In spite of the FDA warning, fresh bins of both jalapeno and serrano brimmed in a local market Tuesday, and restaurants served thick torta sandwiches bristling with slices of hot, raw pepper instead of pickle chips. Consumers, well aware of the warning, weren't yet ready to curtail their pepper intake.

"I'll see what happens," said Irma Viviano, a customer at the Mercado del Pueblo supermarket in Atlanta, as she picked jalapenos from a massive bin that a clerk had just restocked with nine full crates of shiny green pods. Speaking in Spanish, Viviano explained that during the previous scare, she had bought whatever tomatoes she could find, and intended to do the same with peppers.

DeKalb resident Jesus Roman, who is from Mexico, took umbrage at the report that the FDA suspects the tainted pepper was grown in Mexico.

"It was probably contaminated here," Ramon said in Spanish, adding, "The U.S. always says it comes from Mexico."

In fact, the FDA is well aware that contamination could have occurred anywhere along the supply chain.

"While this pepper may have originated from Mexico, I want to emphasize this does not mean the contamination happened in Mexico," David Acheson, associate commissioner for foods at the FDA, told reporters this week in a conference call.

That's why the agency has advised consumers to stay away from all jalapenos, regardless of origin.

But that's not an easy message to get across on this first day following the warning.

Tony Choe, a supervisor at Mercado del Pueblo, says the store is "trying to stay away from the [peppers] grown in Mexico." The ones the store has in stock, he says, are grown locally.

Some of the bigger supermarket chains have reacted decisively. Publix issued a notice to all of its stores Tuesday morning to remove all fresh jalapeno peppers and any products containing fresh, raw jalapeno peppers. Kroger followed suit Tuesday night.

The Taco Bell chain of fast-food restaurants reminded customers that it uses only pickled and packaged jalapenos, which are safe.

Yet to Veronica Castro, a Mexico native who now lives in DeKalb, Taco Bell isn't the answer. Even though she's aware of the warning, she says she needs serrano peppers for her salsas and salads, and she trusts the crisp, shiny specimens at Mercado del Pueblo.

"If they put them in the store, they should be good," Castro said in Spanish.

"I'll just use a little bit," she said, pinching together her thumb and index finger.

—- Staff writer Elizabeth Lee contributed reporting.