By Michelle Fabio

Michigan has now been added to the list of states hit by the recent outbreak of salmonella food poisoning believed to be linked to certain tomatoes, making a total of 17 states affected.

Meanwhile tomatoes from many more states have been deemed safe by the FDA. See the complete list of safe sources of tomatoes.

Remember that even Read the rest of this entry »

By Michelle Fabio

On June 7, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced it “is expanding its warning to consumers nationwide that a salmonellosis outbreak has been linked to consumption of certain raw red plum, red Roma, and red round tomatoes, and products containing these raw, red tomatoes.”

Red plum, red Roma, and red round tomatoes grown and harvested in the following states, territories and countries have not been associated with the outbreak and should, therefore, still be safe to eat: Arkansas, California, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Belgium, Canada, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Israel, Netherlands and Puerto Rico.

The list of “safe tomatoes” is available Read the rest of this entry »

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 Read the rest of this entry »

By Michelle Fabio

There’s great news for buyers of Florida tomatoes: the state’s tomato growers with the support of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and the University of Florida are teaming up in a program to help prevent salmonella and other food-borne illnesses from affecting their crops.

Through training of farm managers and packing houses on the proper way to grow and handle tomatoes, the Florida Tomato Food Safety Program hopes to not only make the state’s tomatoes safer but also create a positive selling point for Florida tomatoes and other agriculture.

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By Michelle Fabio

Recent reports by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have warned that some outbreaks of salmonella infections over the past fifteen years have been linked to raw tomatoes.

While the overall odds are low that you would contract salmonella infections from raw tomatoes, the CDC estimates that there may have been up to 79,000 such illnesses from twelve multi-state outbreaks since 1990.
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