Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Salmonella, again


slo_ted

Recommended Posts

The Sept 7 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report from the CDC contains a report of four large multi-state outbreaks of Salmonella gastroenteritis in 2005-2006 associated with raw tomatoes eaten in restaurants. In fact, they say, there have been 12 outbreaks like these since 1990. By their estimate, approximately 80,000 people were affected. All types of tomatoes are envolved, and they come from multiple states. There has been at least one outbreak per year since 2002, so they conclude that the tomato-growing environment is an ongoing source of contamination. Experiments show that tomatoes can take the bacteria internally if contaminated water is applied to the plants or if the tomato is immersed in water warmer than the tomato. Slicing or dicing the tomato can transfer bacteria from the surface to the meat which is a good culture medium for the bug unless it is refrigerated. I haven't looked, but I'm sure the article is available on their web site. I won't stop eating tomatoes over this, but it is worrisome that the plant kingdom is increasingly becoming the chief vector for this bug.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Unfortunately food handling really needs an overhaul across the board, but who knows when it's going to happen.

Although my mom eats raw vegetables, she tends not to eat most of them raw except in salad. She is not in the habit of eating them uncooked; she says that Chinese people don't believe that it's healthy, so she didn't eat them raw when she was younger. I'm sure that the risk of illness (whether or not they understood exactly why) is a reason for this.

"I know it's the bugs, that's what cheese is. Gone off milk with bugs and mould - that's why it tastes so good. Cows and bugs together have a good deal going down."

- Gareth Blackstock (Lenny Henry), Chef!

eG Ethics Signatory

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Food handling in this country is a fucking disaster. You can buy socks at walmart and they say who inspected them but if you want to know where the meat at the grocery store came from - good luck. It's nearly impossible to find country of origin info for grocery store produce, nevermind who the producer is. This all comes back to the theory that if you want food not to cost anything, you're going to end up with disgusting ingredients. Salmonella tomatoes, hepatitis onions, and e.coli spinach...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...