June 10, 2008You say tomato, I say salmonella
In case you've missed it, the Food and Drug Administration is advising against the consumption of certain kinds of raw tomatoes, including red plum, red Roma and red round. Apparently, folks across the country have fallen ill with salmonella infection and the FDA believes it has been linked to tomatoes. I'm really disappointed by this outbreak. It's almost tomato season here, which should be a time of joy for tomato lovers everywhere. It's a time to savor that first tomato sandwich or a big bowl of warm, juicy fruit with cottage cheese. And while the best tomatoes, hands down, come right out of a backyard garden, people with no time to garden deserve the very best of the season, too. When I went grocery shopping on Sunday, many tomatoes had all been pulled from my Kroger store. Cherry, grape and on-the-vine tomatoes are still okay, according to the FDA. The administration has released a list of states where tomato production has NOT been affected by the outbreak. Read on for the list. Those states are: Arkansas, California, Georgia, Hawaii, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Belgium, Canada, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Israel, Netherlands, and Puerto Rico. If you're out buying tomatoes somewhere, you should ask where they came from. If they came from one of the above states, you are presumably safe. Another option if you don't have your own plants is to buy from a local farmer who can tell you his product is safe. I purchased two tomatoes from the Roanoke farmer's market yesterday. I believe they came from the Carolinas or Georgia, because that's where many of the 'maters on the market come from before they come into season here in Virginia. Fortunately, I've got four tomato plants going on my back porch right now. I'm going to be babying them even more now! They may be producing some of the only tomatoes I'll eat this season. |
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Comments
[June 10, 2008 12:54 PM]
Amy Hanek : →http://www.eatingaroundvirginia.blogspot.comI just put a post up about the banned tomatoes this morning.
Check it out when you have a chance...
[June 10, 2008 1:34 PM]
ErinOH THE HUMANITY!!! I know just how you feel about your tommy-toes Lindsey. I have six plants on my porch and I've been eagerly watching the progress of my tiny little maters. So far the deer haven't discovered my plants....hope they don't hear about this big recall!
[June 10, 2008 1:49 PM]
Lindsey : →http://blogs.roanoke.com/fridgemagnet/We're on the same wavelength today, Amy! Which reminds me, I need to link up with you. Erin, fortunately my deck is too high off the ground for deer! I had a sandwich at Metro for lunch and they're serving cherry tomatoes today.
[June 10, 2008 1:52 PM]
MichelleWhat sad news! I have a few tomato plants I'll be watching more carefully now. I have two teeny green tomatoes already! And about seven plants that haven't even flowered yet. What are they waiting for??? I'm ready!!
[June 10, 2008 1:57 PM]
Amy Hanek : →http://www.eatingaroundvirginia.blogspot.comOhhhhhh Metro!! I LOVE Metro. Their two-bite desserts are the best idea I've seen on a menu in a long time!
My mother (the vegetarian) shopped at Kroger's today and noticed that the tomatoes kept on the vine were okay to eat (according to the grocery store). Maybe because there is less handling involved... I'm not sure.
Thanks for the link too!!
[June 10, 2008 1:57 PM]
Lindsey : →http://blogs.roanoke.com/fridgemagnet/We'll have to have an informal contest to see who gets the first ripe tomato!!
[June 10, 2008 2:29 PM]
GregThis just in...The FDA is now saying they think the salmonella outbreak is actually from chocolate cake left too close to the tomatoes!
Just kidding! But that would really get some people riled up woudn't it!
[June 10, 2008 3:21 PM]
LoriWe have 4 grape tomato plants on our back porch and we've been eagerly watching their growth. We've got some green ones, and I hope the birds stay away! We had a flock of birds in the backyard last night and my husband was cursing the cat for not doing his job to keep the birds away!
My neighbor just planted a Roma tomato plant this weekend. I know it's a little late, but I have a strong urge to go get a couple for myself as I had wanted to can some Romas this season. I was just going to get some from the market, but this salmonella thing has put a dent in that plan.
[June 10, 2008 3:36 PM]
GregYeah, my morning BL is just not the same without the T, here in WV.
[June 10, 2008 3:47 PM]
Lindsey : →http://blogs.roanoke.com/fridgemagnet/Well Greg, I think it's from SOMETHING brown getting too close to the tomatoes, but probably not chocolate cake. Lori, you can still go down on the market and buy tomatoes and tomato plants. Just ask where they came from, and if they came from one of the approved states on the FDA list, you should be okay. And as I said, I'm pretty sure a lot of the market tomatoes are from the Carolinas. As for the honey, YES!! I think that IS Ron Hanawalt's honey at the Roanoke Co-op! At least, I know he supplies them with bulk honey. You should ask them if it's Indian Run honey.
[June 10, 2008 4:05 PM]
CarrieWe've been growing our own heirloom tomatoes for a couple years now; the flavor doesn't even begin to compare with store-bought "imitation tomatoes." This is just more reason to buy from locally (hopefully organically) grown sources, or grow your own! :)
[June 10, 2008 4:11 PM]
DennisI have 8 Better Boy plants, 2 Supersonic plants, and one plant each of 4 "heirloom" varieties that I bought at Riverside Nursery. I have tomatoes on almost all of these plants, including one really big tomato on one of the Supersonic plants. I take good care of them anyway, but as you all have said, it's even more important now! I was at "our" Kroger today, the West Salem store, and they had pulled ALL fresh tomatoes except for one type of organic tomato! Even the yellow heirloom varieties that they had on sale! Far as I know there hasn't been any problem w/ any of the yellow varieties.
[June 10, 2008 4:12 PM]
Amy Hanek : →http://www.eatingaroundvirginia.blogspot.comSpeaking of brown colored contamination, when living in Florida I heard horror stories about the way payment was figured out for each farm worker. We used to live near Immokolee, FL which happens to supply many, many tomatoes in the USA today.
The farm workers were charged by how much they picked.
I have also been told that leaving the field to use the restroom just didn't happen very often.
Can you say "organic?"