Wait, after all the fulminating, and gnashing of teeth, tomatoes are maybe not to blame? Geez, can we have a competent (and fully funded) FDA please?
As the number of cases in an ongoing salmonella outbreak climbed past 800 on Friday, federal health officials said they might never find the cause—and that tomatoes might not be the culprit after all.
Though fresh tomatoes have a “strong association” with many of the cases and remain a top suspect, health officials have not confirmed that the fruit carried the rare Salmonella Saintpaul strain.
Of 1,700 domestic and international tomato samples collected so far, none have tested positive, said David Acheson, associate commissioner for foods with the Food and Drug Administration.
Officials would not divulge if, or what, other produce was being seriously investigated, only saying they would “continue to keep an open mind about the possible source.”
[From Tomatoes may not be source of salmonella — chicagotribune.com]
I took the opportunity to eat heirloom tomatoes instead1 and roll my eyes at the incompetence of our national food inspectors.
Footnotes:- Of course, I eat as many heirloom tomatoes as I can every summer [↩]
GHR says, “That’s a lot of cherry tomatoes.” We are awaiting ours, in the vegetable garden.
Beautiful shot, Seth.
Thanks! Some hotel magazine (I forget its name) asked me for some farmers market photos to be on their cover, but they ended up not purchasing any. This was one of my submissions.