Tomatoes and Salmonella

So whats the deal here, is there any fear of having tainted tomatoes when growing at home. Never really worried about it, but its obviously an issue for some growers? Any precautions?

If I understand it right, home grown tomatos are fine. More reason why we should grow our own produce.

Might want to check out these topics:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/858154/
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/857901/


This message was edited Jun 10, 2008 9:15 AM

Reading those other threads and reading cnn only makes this whole story even more confusing. What exactly do large scale growers do that makes their tomatoes have salmonella. From the articles, it would seem that the salmonella is in the soil and drawn up into the tomatoes themselves. Also, why would tomatoes still attached to their vine be any different than any other tomato, yet every article states that if they are still on the vine they are fine.

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5413a1.htm

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080610/ap_on_bi_ge/tomatoes_salmonella
http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/food-poisoning/news/20080609/salmonella-tomato-warning-expanded

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91342957&ft=1&f=1006

Contamination from animal manure seems to be the chief cause although why Roma types are the leading types is a mystery to me. Certainly organic growers who use animal manures should be as concerned as other growers. I suspect sanitation in some of central America and Mexico growing areas may be below par, although the problem has cropped up in many areas of the continental US over the years.

They seem to be suggesting that the contamination originates in packing houses, not in the field.

True, but the transfer appears to be be from physical contact with the fruit, whether it be in the field or the packing house. Quite a few outbreaks, E.coli as well as Salmonella have been linked to contaminated water. In this case, they have not named a source yet or identified the area from which the tomatoes were shipped which is quite surprising as they cleared quite a few states.

I am wondering-and have not seen anything about this- are the tomatoes infected on the inside, or just on the skin? Wouldn't it be OK to just thoroughly wash them?

They have been saying that the infection could be inside the tomatoes. The E.coli in the spinach was actually inside the leaf. With the tomatoes they say it can be introduced thru the blossom or after the tomato is picked thru the scar.

If the tomato is split or cracked, or the skin broken in processing. If the tomatoes are washed in contaminated water, it would contaminate a lot of them.

I believe the tomatoes that are still attached to the vine are grown hydroponically in green houses, not in a field. Therefore, not picking up soil born or washing tank contamination. It does make you wonder if terrorists could be doing this.

I think one of the concerns is fertilizing with animal waste from pigs, etc. Could be wrong.

I think that was the problem with the last spinach e. coli outbreak - animal waste runoff from nearby livestock farms. And some scientists thought that the contamination was drawn up through the root system, so washing the spinach wouldn't help.

What is driving me crazy is I have run into two people now who are afraid of my tomatoes because of the salmonella thing. Even though I tell them I grow them myself in my back yard. First of all salmonella is not fatal, or even life-threatening for most people, and second it's extremely rare to get it even if you eat affected tomatoes, and third I use city water and fully composted cow manure and mostly organic foods. I don't use any questionable animal waste runoff.

We seem to be very bad at analyzing risk. We'll drive a car in a heartbeat, but worry about flying in an airplane, despite the fact that hundreds of people die each day in cars vs. every 1-2 years for planes. People can't switch their brain on long enough to realize that tomatoes from someone's garden are safer than grocery store ones. I guess this is why when there was the spinach crisis, they just destroyed the entire crop regardless of actual safety. Because people can't or won't think. They just get paranoid, terrified, and react.

I think it's really something else that we will destroy millions of pounds of spinach of tomatoes with the looming food crisis.

So remember that when they sound the all clear and let them buy the store bought cardboard.

Don't get me started, feldon :o). People are ridiculous, sometimes. I was on a music forum a few weeks ago and several people actually said that organic food is gross. What? You actually miss the taste of pesticides and preservatives? ha.

I think that most people today are so far removed from where their food comes from and what it may or may not be exposed to that they have lost the ability to reason through these things. It is difficult, though, to keep up with the tons and tons of information bombarding us every day, but come on!

Most of the time, the loudest voices are what gets our attention. Which explains why someone will go ballistic over a puff of cigarette smoke floating their way but have no opinon or concern on the pollutants that 'big business' is disgarding into our air, water, and food. And it's easier to do something about the guy sitting next to them with a cigarette than the unknown powerful people who are most likely causing us more harm.

I have people who will not buy organic because they "KNOW" what is used on those things! What can I say? Takes all kinds of minds?

On the same note - grew up working on a farm every summer during jr-sr hi years. Had a couple of kids form the Kansas City area staying with the farm family one year.

They watched us milk the cows, but wouldn't dring the milk - they "knew" milk came in containers from the store, not animals - LOL.

We had the dairy that picked up the milk every other day drop off a couple of 1/2 gallons each time.

We did not even show them the garden, nor the game we caught or shot. Figured they wouldn't eat it if they say it harvested and prepared.