Has anyone else heard about the 16-state salmonella outbreak from raw tomatoes? I just read about it in one of the Etsy forums -- of all places. Luckily California Romas are safe. Those are my favorite.
Most fast food places, including In-n-Out, have pulled fresh tomatoes from their food. Your burgers will have to go tomatoless for a while.
Here's an article for more info.
9 comments:
I knew there was a good reason for not liking tomatoes!
I read the article yesterday and knew that fast food joints like McDonald's would be affected, but it was still sad to see the sign posted on the Subway food counter: "No tomatoes today / Sorry for the inconvenience."
Hmm...I'd heard about this, but didn't really pay attention. It's good to know the details. Scary stuff.
Can't they all just be washed? Maybe I don't understand how they're infected, really, but I'd much rather just give them a thorough scrubbing than go without. My dad was in town for a night and always stops at Cafe Rio. He was rather annoyed when they didn't have any pico or salsa available.
poo!
I guess salmonella doesn't just wash off. I'm not sure hot to get rid of it, but they're infected by a bacteria that's found in animal poo (I was going to say "feces", but poo is much cooler). Ugh. even if they were washed I still don't think I'd want to touch it.
No pico at Cafe Rio? Crap. We'll be there in a couple of weeks and that was one of my stops. Sigh...
Danica, I'm surprised the queen of salsa doesn't like tomatoes!! I see what you mean, though. I don't like them either unless they're a part of something.
I was curious, so I searched for ways to remove salmonella from tomatoes, and why simply washing them may not be enough. Here's the relevant text from a USA Today article:
"Cooking tomatoes at 145 degrees for at least 15 seconds will probably kill the bacteria.
"Simply washing tomatoes can help, but it won't necessarily remove the salmonella bacteria, because when tomatoes are picked on very hot days and put into cold water to chill, salmonella on their surface can be drawn up into the fruit.
"That doesn't mean the public should stop washing produce, [director of the FDA's Food Safety and Security Staff David] Acheson says. 'If there is surface contamination, washing is going to help remove it.'"
So there you go.
I knew it wasn't so easy :) Thanks Bryan!
Definitely, thanks for both of those explanations. Considering how many millions of people have eaten tomatoes, it's amazing more people aren't sick!
Ok, so I went to Wingers last night and they still served certain tomatoes. Now, I know the grape tomatoes and vine tomatoes are said to have been ok, but I was still surprised when I found grape tomatoes in my salad!
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