Jun 17 2008
Tomato Recall Hits Home
Last week, the nation was hit with a tomato recall, which is ironic, since just yesterday I was waxing poetic about red produce.
It seems that a bad crop of tomatoes has sickened at least 167 people with salmonella poisoning with reported cases from April 16 through May 26.
Both the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have been working feverishly to determine which regions were likely the source of the bacterial contamination.
While investigators have already concluded that certain types of tomatoes such as cherry, vine-ripened and grape are not the culprit, because they haven’t ruled out large tomato crop producers such as Mexico and Florida, there is still great concern.
The FDA has already cleared California because they ship tomatoes from June through December, that leaves Mexico and Florida up for grabs.
The FDA said tomatoes exported to the U.S. from Canada, Netherlands, Dominican Republic, Belgium, Costa Rica and Israel are safe to eat, as well as tomatoes from Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia.
The 167 cases, which were reported in 17 states, landed 23 individuals in the hospital and was even linked to the death of a 67-year-old cancer patient in Texas (chemotherapy and other cancer treatments weaken the immune system, making them unable to fight bacteria, which can make even the most common cold deadly).
Among those proactively removing tomatoes from their shelves and menus are McDonald’s, Wal-Mart, Burger King, Kroger, Outback Steakhouse, Winn-Dixie and Taco Bell, unless the tomatoes were grown in certain states and countries.
The FDA has cleared cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, tomatoes sold with the vine still attached and homegrown tomatoes, as well as raw red Roma, red plum and round red tomatoes from Arkansas, California, Georgia, Hawaii, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Belgium, Canada, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Israel, Netherlands and Puerto Rico.
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