Salmonella Scare: Follow the Raw Tomato Rules!
By Michelle Fabio
Nearly 80 people have fallen ill because of salmonella food poisoning in nine states, including Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Idaho, Illinois and Indiana.
No deaths have been reported.
Texas and New Mexico authorities have concluded that uncooked tomatoes, in particular Roma and red round tomatoes, are to blame; the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are continuing to investigate the outbreaks in other states to determine whether tomatoes are at the root of the Saintpaul salmonella infection there as well.
Salmonella is a bacterium that lives in human and animal intestinal tracts and can cause fever, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal cramps starting from 12 to 72 hours after infection. Symptoms often last four to seven days, and although people can recover without treatment, even death is possible.
In order to reduce your risk of salmonella food poisoning, those who are at highest risk for infection such as the elderly, infants and those with compromised immune systems should stay away from commercially-produced Romas and red round tomatoes in affected states until the exact source is identified.
For those who will continue to eat tomatoes, you can reduce your risk of contracting salmonella poisoning by following these tips, which we shared with you a few months ago in Raw Tomatoes Linked to Salmonella:
• Don’t buy bruised or damaged tomatoes.
• Wash all tomatoes thoroughly just before eating.
• Refrigerate cut, peeled, or cooked tomatoes within 2 hours, or discard them.
• Separate cut tomatoes from raw, unwashed produce items, raw meats, and raw seafood.
Remember that these should be your Raw Tomato Rules, followed all the time. You will not only decrease your risk of contracting salmonella poisoning from raw tomatoes, you’ll also maximize the flavor of your tomatoes.
June 4th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Yuck. Definitely a good reason to wash your produce before eating it - and grow your own if you can, so you know exactly where it came from and its growing conditions
June 4th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
What a great reminder. Thanks.
June 5th, 2008 at 1:25 am
Follow the food safety rules and grow your own if you can. Didn’t expect tomatoes to become “this” kind of news.
June 5th, 2008 at 1:36 am
Yes, folks, all the more reason to grow your own tomatoes!
Hope none of you are affected by this outbreak; I read some stores are pulling tomatoes altogether
June 9th, 2008 at 9:29 am
[...] outbreak of salmonella poisoning, which we first told you about, has now spread to 145 cases over 16 states. There have been no reported deaths but there have been [...]
June 13th, 2008 at 12:06 am
Its a good reminder to wash all produce before eating it or serving it to your family. I am teased by my family because I’m the “soapy water, scrub brush queen”, but none of them are running to the bathroom with bloody diarrhea and high fever so far.
July 29th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Is this because human waste is put on the fields?
How about the tomatoes from Mexico?
August 2nd, 2008 at 4:27 am
The last I read was that the problem has been traced to a farm in Mexico where irrigation waters were contaminated with Salmonella *but* it wasn’t tomatoes that were affected, it was peppers. Stories seem to change daily though….