Have you given up eating tomatoes?!


Question: Have you given up eating tomatoes?
Or have you decided to take the risk of Salmonella "Saintpaul"? What is your reasoning?

"Salmonella food poisoning first linked to uncooked tomatoes has spread to 16 states, federal health officials said Saturday... Investigations by the Texas and New Mexico Departments of Health and the U.S. Indian Health Service have tied 56 cases in Texas and 55 in New Mexico to raw, uncooked, tomatoes... An additional 50 people have been sickened by the same Salmonella "Saintpaul" infection in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Oklahoma, Oregon, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported... The rarity of the Saintpaul strain and the number of illnesses suggest that implicated tomatoes are distributed throughout the country."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080607/ap_o…

Answers:

BUT what I do and how I eat them hasn't changed. I'm eating only ones I've grown myself, or that I get from local farm stands.

In the first place, tomatoes picked early and shipped aacross the country shouldn't actually qualify AS tomatoes--what they are is a pinky-read tasteless tomato-like substance.

In the second place, I know where my home-grown ones and my farm-stand ones came from and how they're gorwn and handled. I"ve reduced the carbon footprint, am supporting local farmers directly, AND getting the best tomatoes available.

I've got two "patio tomato" vines (I'm already pulling off 2 to 3 small tomatoes a week), and at least 3 farm stands with beautiful tomatoes available--one that does the most gorgeous heritage and antique varieties.

I'm doing this with more and more of the food we eat, and especially produce--bought only in season, and only from local suppliers. The food is fresher, tastier, better for us--and it's FAR more efficient in terms of fuel use to buy from the Amish family along Rt 74, for example, where I'm seeing the whole family out coltivating the rows by hand, and am waited on by one or another of the beautiful, polite and helpful children of the family. I know the petroleum usage that goes into these veggies is WAY lower than those factory farmed in CA and shipped.

The USDA has been under increasing pressure from both this administration and lobbying groups to put more control of methods and regulation into the hands of industry. THIS IS A BAD IDEA. There is less $$$ for oversight, production lines have sped up, accountibility is, under current regulations, virtually impossible to pin down (especially for meat), and I wouldn't buy commercially produced chicken--and would hesitate to take one as a gift.

SPinach a couple of years ago, hamburger last winter, tomatoes now--the safest thing we ALL can do is to eat locally. I know where the greater percentage of my food comes from.



Wasn't this outbreak in 2008? They suspected it was something in fresh salsa...the FDA eventually ruled out tomatoes.

"As of 18 July 2008, the FDA removed raw tomatoes and cilantro as potential carriers; however, fresh jalape?o peppers and fresh serrano peppers still remain"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salmonellos…



i used to haul produce and you are right, they are distributed all over the country along with meat and other produce. i guess i will have to give them up till my plants start putting out. (i like the real live tomatoes so i grow my own) in the summer.

thank you very much for the heads up. i live in washington on buy much food in ore. did they say where the tomatoes were shipped out from?



no! buy from small, local farmers that don't process produce AND proteins in the same facility - there are negligible risks for protein-borne bacteria like salmonella, schigella, e-coli and other nasties to show up on produce when not processed with proteins

culinary and nutrition student



That was three years ago, so no, we have not given up eating tomatoes.



They are soooooo much better than store bought and I don't have to worry about salmonella. Well worth the effort.



No, I like eating tomatoes



Attack of the Killer Tomatoes...



wash the tomatoe



Thanks for the info



this is old news. i don't buy those rocks they sell in the store anyway. i grow my own.




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