FDA just said its okay to eat Florida Tomatoes...that was a quick turn around..could it be

[Doityourself]

they were pushed into saying so..by the lobby. Tomatoes are worth a lot of money and if they couldn't sell them, the industry said it would collapse...

Hmmmm..

I still ain't eatin 'em...

[whistle]

1. Same folks who said it was okay to clean up WTC on September 12, 2001

[aquart]

2. The problem seems to be large Florida tomatoes.

My beloved Desert Glory cherry tomatoes are grown in Texas.

Does saying we can eat the tomatoes mean they aren't bothering to look for the source of the salmonella?

[Lasher]

3. I just braved the heat yesterday to work in the garden.

I had to make 3 trips, coming back to the house to cool off. I've got 60 tomato plants growing there. And I've still got about 40 quart jars of quartered tomatoes and juice that I put up last year. I wish everyone were as lucky as I in this respect.

[spanone]

4. it was ok to breathe that post 911 ground zero air too! trust your government!!!!

[MindPilot]

5. How does a tomato have salmonella?

I thought that salmonella was carried in sewage and rancid meat.

[samdogmom]

6. Just a guess...but the irrigation source must have been contaminated. YUCK!

[SoCalDem]

7. Is it ON them or IN them? I have not heard which it is..

My husband was quite ill a few weeks ago and it was AFTER I gave him sliced tomatoes :grr:.. They came from Smart & Final, but when I looked online, California had not been included on "the list"..we're on it now though ..:( I still threw the rest of the tomatoes away...

[DemoTex]

8. IN them.

Systemic contamination. Cannot be washed off.

[gullwing300]

11. I am not convinced it can get into the fruit through the roots.

Something about this whole story stinks and it's not just the fertilizer.
:eyes:

[kestrel91316]

14. I have a BS in microbiology and am certainly NOT convinced

that the bacteria are taken up INTO the plant. I don't know that it's even possible. Just like the spinach and E. coli a while back.

Surface contamination can be impossible to remove from some vegetables, and if those tomatoes have any cracks or bruises or scratches, that's enough.

[gullwing300]

16. Indeed. Neither of us is convinced. Thanks!

:D

[MindPilot]

31. I don't get that at all.

If fecal bacteria could enter through the roots and survive in the fruit, then pretty much every plant would be toxic to humans. Again, you know way more biology than me; isn't there a whole chemical process similar to digestion in animals that takes place to convert decomposed organic matter into nutrients the plant can use?

Doesn't it take a colony of bacteria to cause illness? It seems like the one or two that might survive wouldn't have any affect. And how would a bacterium that normally lives ON something, survive IN something?

[kestrel91316]

35. Here's the deal: a plant's "circulation" takes up nutrients through

tiny pores in cell walls. The bacteria are WAAAAAAYYYYYY bigger than those pores, which let molecules pass but very sensibly keep microbes OUT (otherwise how would the plant keep from absorbing bacteria pathogenic to PLANTS???).

I am calling bullshit on plants absorbing bacterial pathogens into their circulation. The bacteria may get trapped all over the surface so they can't be washed off in any meaningful way, but they do NOT get absorbed.

If anybody can cite published peer-reviewed research results to the contrary I would love to see it.

[klyon]

10. could be from the water they were washed with

or on the hands of the workers handling them

[kestrel91316]

13. Not sewage and rancid meat, per se. More like cattle feces and

food contaminated with cattle feces. Nothing need be old or rancid, just dirty.

[MindPilot]

26. I was trying to be as general as I could since my last biology class

was sometime in the early seventies.

But it reminds me of that line from Fast Food Nation "Let me see if I can say it a little more succinctly; Bob, there's shit in the meat."

[HockeyMom]

9. Farm stands

Since I don't have the room to grow them, I will go to a small local Mom and Pop farm stand who grow them right in the field in the back.

I live not far from the area (Immokalee) which I believe is a major supplier to the rest of the country. I know this place supplies Burger King. Think I would trust buying them in the supermarket?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

12. Maybe they tracked down the source, and it wasn't in Florida?

It's not like all tomatoes everywhere suddenly contracted salmonella. They knew some tomatoes had salmonella, and they put out a recall on all of them until they could figure out which ones.

[kestrel91316]

15. Tomatoes don't "contract" Salmonella. One contracts a disease.

The tomatoes are contaminated.

I know, it may be trivia to most folks and certainly is to the MSM but words have precise meaning. Especially scientific words.

My intent is to inform and clarify, not flame. Don't get your dander up.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

17. Meh.

Contract- (verb)

13. to get or acquire, as by exposure to something contagious: to contract a disease.

[gullwing300]

18. Exactly what kestral said. Salmonella isn't a disease.

It's a toxin.


:shrug:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

20. Salmonella is a genus of bacteria.

Salmonellosis is a disease caused by infection of salmonella, causing problems such as diarrhea, vomiting, and dehydration.

:eyes:

[kestrel91316]

30. When you suffer through a year of postgraduate general pathology,

you get that dictionary-in-the-brain thing going wrt medical termiinology, lol. It's just me.

[sniffa]

19. You can't fight Big Tomato

Big Tomato has deep pockets and the FDA in its clutches.

[rucky]

22. What's it like being a stooge for Big T?

[sniffa]

23. It crushes my soul

But the pay is great

[gullwing300]

25. We are getting perilously close to Peak Tomato!

:P

[sniffa]

27. We need to start investing in alternative ketchup sources

[Lone_Star_Dem]

28. We need to look to the condiments of our ancestors.

They believed tomatoes to be toxic before it was trendy. We need to heed their warnings and revert back to mushroom ketchup.

Which is actually VERY good. :9

[sniffa]

29. But, looking to the past prevents us from moving forward

And more importantly, mushroom ketchup!? :puke:

[Lone_Star_Dem]

33. Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it

Are you nuts? Mushroom ketchup is delicious!

* 1-1/2 pounds mushrooms, firm and fresh
* 1-1/2 Tablespoons pickling salt
* 1 ounce dried boletus mushrooms
* 3 cup hot tap water
* 2 cups white wine vinegar
* 3 large shallots, peeled or 1 small onion, peeled
* 1 garlic clove, peeled
* 10 whole allspice berries or 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
* 4 whole cloves
* 3 large mace blades
* 2 bay leaves
* 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
* 1/4 cup medium or dry sherry

PREPARATION:
Wipe mushrooms clean with a damp cloth, or brush them clean. Avoid washing them if possible; if it is necessary, swish them rapidly through a bowl of water and lift and drain them promptly.
Trim off any discolored stem ends or damaged portions. Slice the mushrooms thin (a food processor fitted with the thin-slicing disc makes short work of this task) and mix them thoroughly with the salt in a ceramic bowl. Cover mushrooms with a cloth and let them stand 24 hours, stirring occasionally. They will become very dark (the finished ketchup will be approximately the color of black bean soup).

http://homecooking.about.com/od/condimentrecipes/r/blcon81.htm

Typical American. If it's not tomato based it's not ketchup. :P

To be honest though, I couldn't imagine putting it on french fries. :puke:

[rucky]

21. You first, FDA

Cook yourself up some Spongeform Bovine in a Tomato Salmonella Sauce

and wash it down with some fast-tracked pharmaceuticals while you're at it.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

24. I read this earlier - Florida tomato industry in 'complete collapse'

I knew then the FDA was going to be pushed hard to clear the nations #1 (90% of all tomatoes this time of year) producer.

I knew they wouldn't be allowed to lose $40 million right now and more in the future.

[MindPilot]

32. No one has gone there yet, so please allow me....

[sniffa]

34. Big Tomato secretly financed that film

but not the sequel.

[Patsy Stone]

36. Nope. I think we're just that good.

http://www.doacs.state.fl.us/press/2008/06102008.html

TALLAHASSEE – Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles H. Bronson has announced that tomatoes currently being harvested in Florida have been deemed safe by the Food and Drug Administration and has been added to the agency’s list of states with “safe to eat” tomatoes. FDA’s website is updated in the evening and will reflect the change.

“Florida tomato growers have one of the most stringent tomato production programs in the nation. They initiated the heightened safety standards several years ago to ensure public confidence in their product.”

After reviewing Florida’s safety initiative, the timing of the illness outbreak and the timing of tomato harvesting, FDA added Florida’s current production areas to the “safe to eat” list. Growers will provide a certificate with each shipment verifying the tomatoes are from Florida. Bronson points out that the tomatoes that are now being harvested and shipped from Florida did not even exist when the salmonella outbreak occurred. He says Florida growers sell an abundance of their product in Florida and there have been no reported illness in the state. Florida growers also sell predominantly to eastern states and the bulk of illnesses have occurred in western states.