Thread: Tainted Tomatoes could be from Mexico

Feds list safe tomatoes

Last Edited: Friday, 06 Jun 2008, 8:51 PM MDT
Created: Friday, 06 Jun 2008, 8:51 PM MDT

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ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) -The New Mexico Environment Department continues to try to narrow down the source of a salmonella outbreak linked to raw tomatoes.

So far 48 New Mexicans have gotten sick, and several more cases are possible.

Many restaurants have stopped serving the raw fruit that usually plays a starring role in many New Mexican foods including salsa.

Most of the restaurant managers interviewed by KRQE News 13 today said not to worry. The salsa will still be on the menu and will be safe to eat.

Like many restaurants, Monroe's uses canned tomatoes for its salsa, not the fresh tomatoes that have been linked to the salmonella outbreak.

Monroe's and several other restaurants have stopped serving raw tomatoes.

El Pinto is not serving raw tomatoes but salsa is still available. Sadie's is serving some organic tomatoes and cooked salsa.

And for now there are no tomatoes at Sweet Tomatoes restaurants. A manager said the chain has pulled all tomatoes from the salad bar.

Matthew Diaz with Monroe's said his downtown restaurant usually goes through about three cases of tomatoes each week. But now the fresh tomatoes are in the trash.

And the restaurant is relying on canned tomatoes to fill in any gaps in the recipes.

"It's our responsibility as restaurant owners to err on the side of caution to look out for customer safety as much as it is to serve great food," Diaz said.

State Department of Health officials think the tainted tomatoes may have originated in Mexico.

Also today the federal Food and Drug Administration released a list of tomato-producing states and countries not associated with the outbreak.

The FDA said grape and cherry tomatoes and tomatoes sold still on the vine are safe to eat.

In all 86 people in 11 states have gotten sick. The majority are in New Mexico and Texas.

http://tinyurl.com/5z3c7n

It's a two state problem! I do not buy Mexican produce.

June 5, 2008, 5:30PM
Texas' tomato investigation starts in Harris County
Health officials hope to trace the tainted fruit to its origin

By ALLAN TURNER
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

State health officials' search for the source of tainted tomatoes thought responsible for a salmonella outbreak focused on Harris County on Wednesday, as medical workers reported that three more local cases of the potentially fatal food poisoning had been confirmed.

By late Wednesday, the county total stood at 15. Single cases were reported in Fort Bend and Brazoria counties. Statewide, the total jumped to 35 on Thursday.

The Texas cases are part of a national outbreak affecting 11 states.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 33 cases of salmonella saint paul poisoning in New Mexico and 29 in other states throughout the nation. The New Mexico and Texas cases, which also occurred in Dallas-Fort Worth, the Rio Grande Valley and Austin's Hays County suburbs, are thought to be linked to tomatoes.

CDC epidemiologist Dr. Casey Barton Behravesh said her agency estimates 38 unreported cases of salmonella poisoning occur for every one that comes to the attention of a physician.

The current salmonellosis outbreak marks the second in the United States in two years in which contaminated tomatoes have been blamed.

Frank Borden, manager of the Texas Department of State Health Services' food and drug inspections branch, said he has concentrated his agents in Houston, where they are scrutinizing invoices and other documents in hope of finding a source for the contaminated fruit.

"We'll be looking for a common source," he said, "looking at paperwork, following the paper to a wholesaler, an importer, a producer. We have just begun that process."

Major Houston supermarkets, including Fiesta, H-E-B, Kroger and Randalls, responded to this week's salmonella alert by removing Roma and large tomatoes from their shelves.

Whole Foods Markets posted signs warning customers of the danger of eating the fruit raw.

Behravesh said 38 salmonella victims, whose illness occurred between mid-April and late May, have been interviewed in New Mexico and Texas. Their ages ranged from 3 to 82 years.

Nationwide, 17 people required hospital treatment. No deaths were reported.

Health workers this week are interviewing victims in other states to determine if their cases seem to be linked to tomatoes.

Infections by salmonella saint paul — one of about 2,500 strains of the bacterium — are extremely rare. Of 1.4 million salmonella infections in the U.S. last year, Behravesh said, only 401 were caused by the saint paul strain.

This salmonellosis outbreak is the third in the United States since 2006.

In fall 2006, 183 people in 21 states became ill after eating tainted tomatoes. Massachusetts was hardest hit with 50 cases; Connecticut second with 28. Texas was not affected. The contaminated fruit was traced to an Ohio farm.

From mid-2006 to early 2007, 425 people in 44 states were stricken with the food poisoning after eating contaminated peanut butter. While 20 percent of the victims required hospital treatment, no deaths were reported.

Salmonella poisoning, which can lead to intense intestinal distress, can be deadly to infants, senior citizens or those with compromised immune systems.

allan.turner@chron.com

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/met ... 19661.html

I just went to Carino's Grill tonight, an Italian food chain here in Southern California....My mouth was watering for their Roma Tomatoe Pizza... The waitress said "sorry no tomatoes will be served in any of their foods, because of the tainted tomatoes" ... Italian restaurant, no tomatoes!

Mexico uses human waste for fertilizer! I wonder??

Last year it was the organic spinach and lettuce.

Is it possible to find out where Bush gets his tomatoes/food? I'm sure he is not eating the crap infested food being sold to the rest of us.

I wish my garden would start to ripen - I 'know' what's touched and fertilized that.

Molly asked if human waste was used for fertilizer.

I think human fertilizer is linked 'more' to Hepatitis not Salmonilla.

MEXICO is tainted, period!

Originally Posted by Molly

Mexico uses human waste for fertilizer! I wonder??

WHAT?

I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I''ve seen videos of them watering produce with their ding-dongs.

Contra Costa woman contracts salmonella linked to outbreak in other states
By Roman Gokhman
Contra Costa Times
Article Launched: 06/06/2008 09:33:01 PM PDT


WALNUT CREEK — A Contra Costa County woman has been identified as having the same type of salmonella connected to an outbreak in several other states.

The California Department of Public Health confirmed Friday that the woman had salmonella saintpaul, an uncommon strain that has been linked to raw tomatoes. The woman, who is older than 35, was not hospitalized and has recovered, Contra Costa Health Services spokeswoman Kate Fowlie said.

It is the first reported case involving a California resident. The strain is the same type of salmonella that has sickened 57 people in New Mexico, Texas and several other states, and 17 of those cases have included hospitalizations, officials said. Salmonella can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections, especially in the very young and elderly.

The state Department of Public Health said Friday that it is also working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other agencies to determine if an Oregon man confirmed to have salmonella saintpaul ate a tomato in Southern California or elsewhere. "We're not sure where either person consumed (a) tomato," said California Public Health Department spokeswoman Janet Huston.

Fowlie said officials are still investigating where the woman may have contracted the illness because she had recently traveled to a state where several other cases have occurred. Huston said there is no indication that tomatoes grown in California caused the infections.

But at least one East Bay restaurant was taking precautions. In Lafayette, a Jack In The Box franchise displayed a sign announcing that it was switching to canned tomatoes instead of fresh ones during the salmonella outbreak at the request of CDC. The FDA is recommending people limit tomato consumption to cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, tomatoes sold with the vine still attached and homegrown varieties.

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_9508438?s ... ost_viewed

Originally Posted by florgal

State Department of Health officials think the tainted tomatoes may have originated in Mexico.

Figures. We just had a man die from eating tainted tomatoes here in Houston.