Salmonella from consuming raw tomatoes

[tufhelp]

:-/ Have any of you seen or heard about or are you having in your areas a tomato salmonella outbreak?

http://kob.com/article/stories/S467396.shtml?cat=500

"Stores and restaurants throughout New Mexico are no longer offering tomatoes after 17 people were hospitalized with salmonella from consuming raw Roma and large round varieties."

It looks like Many stores and resturants in the surrounding areas (Colorado, Arizona and El Paso, Texas) have also stopped selling and serving tomatoes.

[oldnndway]

Several of the restaraunts here have pulled tomatos from their menus and salad bars.
Seem to have been tomatos from Mexico.
The ones that buy theirs from Florida are still serving them.

[nancy1340]

We really need to ask where the produce in our stores is from. Problem is the produce managers don't have a clue.

[clarkshomestead]

I'm growing Cherokee Purple, Amish Paste, Beefsteak, Celebrity, Scotts Cherry, Yellow hog and a cherry tomato passed down from my wife's grandma this year and all organic. I don't think I'll have to worry about that this year or for the next three if I can get a pressure cooker in time.

[sbemt456]

Just a few months ago before my lettuce and onions were big enough for my spring dose of wilted lettuce and green onions I went to the local grocery and bought some lettuce and green onions. Well I got home and washed again and started to chop the green onions when i noticed some brown stuff down inside the opening in the green tops. I got to thinking about the big sign I had seen at the store, dont know if it was a warning or advertisement, "product of Mexico". So with that in mind I proceeded to put the onions in the trash. The brown stuff was likely sand or dirt but my imagination got the best of me thinking about where they came from and just no knowing just how sanitary the conditions were.
I told the hubby I needed some onion set which I did get and planted in a big flower pot and grew my own. They got washed before the tops were trimmed and they didnt have that funny brown stuff in them!. Go figure.

Sorry if I dont trust other people cleaning my food, but if I eat out I wont order salad of any kind or any uncooked food.
Guess Im just gettin picky in my old age.

By the way Clarkhomestead, how are the fish?

stella

[GoodDaughter]

Yes, salmonella reported here too, and yesterday I went to three grocery stores; two had pulled Romas and 'large round' types, and the third had pulled them all. I wasn't buying anyway because mine are starting to ripen, but I did notice them being absent.

[lateaprildawn]

One of my experiments this year has been research & fact finding about manures and composting.

I did wonder when I first saw this news story whether the practice of using "humanure" could be the cause of this outbreak.

All the sources i read posted plenty of warnings about pathogens that remain in human manure unless properly treated and I ended up discounting the idea as a process for me since the taxes I pay for fresh water and waste water removal and processing are an all in one tax with no opt out sections.

I do wonder if this outbreak could be from farmers using human manure without processing it ?

Contaminated tomatos are sent for processing, they are mixed with other tom's which then themselves become contaminated etc, etc.

A real SHTF scenario , if i ever saw one ! ;D ;D ;D

[mom]

I'm growing Cherokee Purple, Amish Paste, Beefsteak, Celebrity, Scotts Cherry, Yellow hog and a cherry tomato passed down from my wife's grandma this year and all organic. I don't think I'll have to worry about that this year or for the next three if I can get a pressure cooker in time.
Canning tomatoes doesn't require a pressure cooker - just a big pot of hot water. They have enough acid in them.

[Suzy]

They had an "expert" on one of the Fox News Channel shows this afternoon who said that all the problems were caused by so many people growing ORGANIC food and said that if you don't use CHEMICALS and wash the produce with BLEACH you will get the diseases!!!! That guy was a NUT! and the commentator was not pleased with him, you could tell....

I bought tomatoes at our local farmer's maket on Saturday and we've enjoyed eating every one of them because we KNOW the farmer (we have tomatoes in our garden but none ripe yet!)

Buy fresh buy local is more than a slogan now! (or at least it should be) Everybody should read all the Yeagers' articles in all the past BWH magazines and anthologies AND all of Jackie Clay's articles and every one on this forum should have their own garden, whether it's a two acre plot on a farm or just some containers on an apartment patio!!!

[Suzy]

And one more thing, they DO recommend using a pressure canner for tomatoes now because most of those "canning" tomatoes that you buy or grow have been so genetically engineered that they DON'T have enough acid in them now!

[hardrock]

Just more "Things that go bump in the night" ;)

As of 6-12-08 the talking heads on the morning news programs are hawking some deranged Congresswoman's plan to register ALL produce back to point of origin
She wants "tracability" in any/all produce.

School shootings, they hawk gun control........

Mad Cow disease, they implement N.I.A.S.E. (?sp)

Speak out for Liberty, you're a terrorist........

Salmonella tomatoes, ..................??

Anyone starting to see a pattern here????

(You wouldn't believe all the paperwork it takes just to get into our local Farmer's Market as a producer, already!)
Certification, "proper liscensing", permits, insurance, etc.

I don't think they want us to eat unless our "paperwork" is in order.

[CarolAnn]

I suspect it will be traced back to the field workers who do not have bathroom facilities, except IN the field - just like the spinich with e-coli a few months ago. If we're going to bring in cheap produce, we'll pay for it in the long run in just this way.

(I don't know for sure that salmonella is this kind of pathogen - it's just my thought on it.)

[walls0stone]

I can't help but feel like this organic stuff is going a little to far to be safe. It started out and a wholesome event and turned into a money maker. products created to keep us safe are dropped in the name of what feels good..

[Suzy]

"True" organic is not anything that has been genetically "messed" with or otherwise altered....and is not supposed to have any chemicals, etc. applied to it....

Our Farmer's Markets in Alabama require a "grower's permit" that is obtained free from the local extension service. You just are supposed to keep it with you at all times. It is simple to obtain and you list EVERYTHING that you produce on your farm that you want to sell....mine includes my eggs, goat milk soap, jellies, angora wool products, etc.

The good thing about it is that according to Alabama law if you have a grower's permit, they can't make you buy a "license" in the cities or counties for selling your stuff!

I sell most of my stuff directly from the farm and our county license guy told me a couple of years ago I "needed" to buy a license. I immediately read the part of the law that applies to farmers (which is conveniently printed on the top of the grower's permit) and he said, "oh, I guess you don't need one."

I don't like the idea of ANY government regulations.....of anything....

So store up food in your pantries and grow and produce as much as you can, and what you can't grow, BUY from a local farmer that you know and TRUST!

[Suzy]

Oh, and I do not trust some of the big box stores that now are pushing all their "organic" foods.....like I said, buy locally from folks you know and trust and much as possible, or better yet, grow it yourself!

[pinetreefarm]

I don't trust the big supermarkets either so we are tomato-less for the duration. Even though those tomatoes are tasteless compared to garden grown, we still miss them on our salads.

Pine

[walls0stone]

Local Orgainic co-op rep drives around in a brand new 40,000 car that came from grants and organic proffits...why do we need him? Also, Organic differs from product to product. It's not the same for hogs as cows. Some Co-opps tell farmers what they can/cannot use...like what kind of feince posts to use. But they set up an organic locust post business and what do you know...that's what your told to get. I agree, just pay people you know.

So who want's to buy an organic, grass feed angus? I prommis, no tomatos :)

[HockeyFan]

I've never heard of such a thing. The only way that the tomatoes could possibly be "infected" would be if the skin were breached and the fruit opened in some manner. Otherwise, it seems to me that washing the tomatoes, like we've always done, should do the trick.
Considering the stuff that we grow tomatoes in, why is this such a surprise that we have to wash them before eating them?
And I missing something?

[hardrock]

Ya have to wonder just how many people over the course of history have contracted salmonella from eating raw tomatoes. ::)
Is this a first? Or just the most recent episode that's been blasted all over the globe via "real time" news..... ???

"large round varieties" ???
What, so.... the small square ones are OK.....? ;D


Grow'em, wash'em good, eat'em!

[walls0stone]

I'm with you on that hardrock, I don't think poo on stuff in the garden is to blame. I think it's also a pop culture illness. have you noticed more tomatoe plants in stores? our local stands have tons of them. I can't decide if people are growing their own to stay safe...or skipping them.

[HockeyFan]

I was pretty sure that this daily news on salmonella was actually a non-news story. I think it's stupid, but it does have me wondering what restaurants these people that got sick were eating at. And if they got sick from buying the tomatoes, then it's their own fault for not washing them. How stupid is that?
Can't the FDA explain to the average nimrod that tomatoes grow on plants, and plants grow in the ground, and that there are various other things on that ground, including bull sh%&t (or other manure-like substances)? This just seems so stupid to me that people think they're buying something as if it were a canned good, and completely safe to eat right off the grocery store vegetable stand.
I guess this is the same mentality that thinks that meat comes from McDonald's, and that cattle have nothing to do with it.

[walls0stone]

So why should the FDA Tell them? they had Home Ecc right? they had mothers right? They had books, the net, PTA, USDA, UFO's.KGB on LSD and 31 diffrant flavors...

some people are just stupid

[Suzy]

I really think the problem has been caused by people with dirty hands either in preperation or something...I have little bitty green tomatoes on my plants in the garden now and on the grape tomato plant growing in a five gallon bucket! yea!

[edward_4576]

Perhaps I should post this in the conspiracy section, but this isn't the first time this has happened. Do you want to know why the CDC hasn't said where the "infected" produce originates?

Read and learn....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_Rajneeshee_bioterror_attack

With the tip of my tin foil hat....

8)

[TheUnboundOne]

Dear Forum Members,

The song said it best:

"Homegrown Tomatoes" by Guy Clark (No video, just goooood music)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nitgmAInI18

8) *8) *8) *8) *8) *8) *8)