I want my fucking tomatoes back

[Parts]

WASHINGTON - As salmonella cases continue to climb, the government is checking if tainted tomatoes really are to blame for the record outbreak — or if the problem is with another ingredient, or a warehouse that is contaminating newly harvested tomatoes.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080628/ap_on_he_me/med_salmonella_tomatoes;_ylt=ApHkHhjzMJQ8NU8m0ppqmlCs0NUE

I want my fucking tomatoes back the ones in my garden aren't ready and they are few and far between at the store.  So who thinks this is all hype

[Icequeen]

They're blaming it on the tomatoes, and personally I don't think they know what the hell caused it.

I planted too many tomatoes this year, the hazards of taking a 9yr old with you to pick out plants, going to have a big crop, some nice size green ones already.

[renaeden]

I have had salmonella before, I got it from chicken not cooked properly. I didn't know you could get it from vegetables.

[Peter]

I have had salmonella before, I got it from chicken not cooked properly. I didn't know you could get it from vegetables.

Fruit and vegetables are sprayed with animal shit, and in some places, with raw human sewage.  Salmonella in the shit can survive on the surface of fruit and vegetables and find it's way inside the vegetables if they're damaged, where it can reproduce in the internal tissues of the plant.  Processed fruit and veg are thus more risky than whole fruit and veg, since processing mixes surface bacteria into the internal tissues and then provides an interval for reproduction while it sits in trucks, in the shop and at home waiting to be consumed.

Salmonella in vegetables
Does manuring the fields, either at home or overseas, pose any
threat to the public health ? Polluted river and surface water
is often used for irrigating growing vegetables, especially
during droughts, and illness may be caused by the consumption
of vegetables treated with surface water.1 2 Some answers
to this question have come from "a tentative survey"3 into the
hygienic quality of vegetables grown in or imported into the
Netherlands. Samples of 61 home-grown and 199 imported
vegetables were examined for Escherichia coli and faecal
streptococci. Salmonellas were isolated from 23 of 103 samples
examined for these organisms. As the numbers of E coli and
faecal streptococci increased above 104 and 106 per 100 g,
respectively, the isolation rate of salmonellas rose from 8 to
63% and from 6 to 51%, thus supporting claims about how
useful E coli and faecal streptococci are as indicators of
probable appreciable faecal contamination. The typhoid
bacillus was isolated from one sample of vegetables imported
from the tropics.

The presence of salmonellas and the indications of faecal
contamination show at least potential dangers from these
organisms and other intestinal pathogens, including parasites.
Although the survey was limited, the risk appears to be highest
from tropical products. Some tropical countries commonly use
human faeces for manuring vegetable crops, and this doubtless
explains the disturbing finding of typhoid bacilli in one
sample from a tropical country. An outbreak of cholera in
Israel in 1970 was traced to vegetables manured with human
faeces4 ; and clearly any vegetables so manured carry higher
than average (and indeed serious) risks to consumers.

In practice, however, the number of reports of food
poisoning traced to vegetables are few compared with those
traced to animal products. Vegetables are not anything like as
good a culture medium for salmonellas as are meat, milk, and
eggs, for example; and the common food-poisoning salmonellas
do not usually produce symptoms in man unless fairly large
numbers are eaten. The number of samples containing a few
salmonellas is less important for the health of consumers than
the number of salmonellas present in particular samples of
food at the time it is eaten. Although it is useful to be reminded
that the hygienic quality of vegetables may sometimes be
questioned, we must also not overestimate their importance as a
cause of food poisoning. Their food value is infinitely more
important than any possible hazard to health.

It is important that vegetables should be individually and
thoroughly washed in running water just before being used,
especially those eaten uncooked. In itself washing is a sure and
effective way of decontaminating vegetables, since salmonellas
are present on the surface. Most importantly, unwashed
vegetables should be kept away from clean kitchen surfaces
and from fresh food, especially if the latter is to be eaten
uncooked and not at once. Good kitchen hygiene is the most
important factor in preventing infection. If stronger assurance
is required immersion may be advised for, say, an hour in
dilute permanganate solution or lightly chlorinated water,
followed by a wash in running water. But with such reasonable
and simple precautions there is no need for us to face a
summer without salads.

[renaeden]

Oh that is disgusting. I don't know whether to thank you or not, Peter.