Tomatoes update

June 19th, 2008 · No Comments

Seems like most tomatoes are now safe to eat. The Food and Drug Administration just issued an update today…

Update on the Outbreak June 18, 2008: At this time, FDA recommends consuming raw red plum, raw red Roma, or raw red round tomatoes only if grown and harvested from the following areas that HAVE NOT BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH THE OUTBREAK:

Alabama
Alaska
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida (counties of: Jackson, Gadsden, Leon, Jefferson, Madison, Suwannee, Hamilton, Hillsborough, Polk, Manatee, Hardee, DeSoto, Sarasota, Highlands, Pasco, Sumter, Citrus, Hernando, Charlotte)*
Georgia
Hawaii
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
Nebraska
North Carolina
Ohio
Oklahoma (New!)
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Baja California (Norte) **
Belgium
Canada
Dominican Republic
Guatemala
Israel
Netherlands
Puerto Rico

* Shipments of tomatoes harvested in these counties are acceptable with a certificate issued by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

** Product lots of tomatoes harvested in this State in Mexico are allowed export into the U.S. with a certificate issued by the Secretaria de Fomento Agropecuario del Gobierno del Estado de Baja California (Agency).

The recent outbreak of salmonellosis from tomatoes prompted markets and restaurants to pull tomatoes out of their shelves and menus. Me — I love tomatoes and I haven’t stopped eating them. I thank Moore Farms, my long-time local source, and all our local farmers for providing the public with the highest quality produce. Laurie Moore from Moore Farms says it best:

“Whenever there are media reports about the conventional food system suffering another recall or contamination scare we get lots of calls and emails. Some folks want to know where they can get our Good Clean Food, others want to be reassured that ours is indeed safe. This recent Salmonella Scare with conventional tomatoes brought a flurry of contacts from Members and potential new Members alike! Thankfully we can all rest assured that our local producers use safe clean methods to grow the food we delivery for your family. The suspected cause of this outbreak is the post-harvest handling. Large scale growers wash freshly picked produce in a chlorine solution to eliminate bacterial contaminants. The problem with this (other than soaking our food in chlorine) is that the wash becomes a soup of materials and depending on temperature factors this can result in a big bad batch of contaminated produce. Of course we recommend you wash our produce before consuming it, none of our produce is packaged as “ready to eat” and we certainly don’t use any chemical solutions to “clean” our harvests. Often you will find field-washed produce or even vegetables that still have the dirt they were grown in on them. We believe the least handling before it gets to you, the better. If you’re especially concerned about this tomato recall or want to be sure your produce is extra clean in general you can use a 10% vinegar solution to soak produce for 5 minutes and then rinse. The best way to ensure your food safety? Know who grows your food!”

I’m off to eat a tomato-mayo sandwich now.

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