Georgia's agriculture commissioner wants supermarkets to put jalapeno peppers them back on shelves despite a federal warning to avoid them because of a salmonella outbreak.

Tommy Irvin said Georgia-grown jalapenos tested clean on Friday. He said his agency tested jalapenos from six farms and nine samples of salsa from Salsa Y'all from Watkinsville. Based on the result he thinks grocery chains should start selling them again.

Of challenging the federal advisory, Irvin said, "Sometimes you've got to take a reasonable amount of risk."

But representatives for Kroger and Publix said they'll continue to follow the federal guidelines. Whole Foods did not not respond immediately to a call for comment. All three chains had removed jalapenos from their shelves.

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration says that, in light of the salmonella outbreak, raw jalapenos should not be served or sold.

Monday, the FDA said that it had found a pepper contaminated with Salmonella Saintpaul, the strain that has caused a nationwide outbreak since April. The salmonella-carrying pepper was found at a distribution center in McAllen, Texas. As of Thursday, the strain had infected 1,284 people in 43 states, the District of Columbia and Canada and been linked to two deaths.

The FDA's decision to advise discarding raw jalapenos caused a tumult among farmers and state agriculture heads.

In a letter to the FDA and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture asked "that FDA consider establishing immediate, interim (safety) requirements that allow fresh jalapenos to freely move in commerce."

The FDA also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.