The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning consumers in New Mexico and Texas not to eat certain types of raw red tomatoes as they could be contaminated with an uncommon form of Salmonella that is rarely fatal to healthy humans but can cause death in vulnerable people. Reports of illnesses in 7 other states are also being investigated.
The authorities have not yet found the exact source of the outbreak, it could be just a single grower or packer, said the FDA, but preliminary investigations lead them to suspect raw red plum, Roma, or round red tomatoes which could contain the bacteria serotype Saintpaul, an uncommon type of Salmonella.
Their advice is that people in New Mexico and Texas should limit their consumption of tomatoes to those types that have not been involved in the outbreak, these include cherry and grape tomatoes, tomatoes with the vine still attached, and home grown tomatoes.
The contaminated tomatoes are suspected to have caused 57 reported cases of salmonellosis from April 23rd to 1st June in New Mexico and Texas, 17 of which were hospitalized. Another 30 reported cases in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, and Utah are also being investigated, said the FDA, who are not yet sure if these are linked to tomatoes. So far no deaths have been reported.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/109822.phpI'm glad you posted this. I saw it in the paper and was going to, but this has even more info the article had. Does anybody know how you are supposed to clean a tomato? I always rinse them in water, but is that enough to kill salmonella? Should you remove the peel, maybe?
We eat a lot of tomatoes at my house, especially Roma.
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