News: FDA Warns Don't Eat Certain Types of Tomatoes

Due to an outbreak of salmonella, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a warning that certain types of tomatoes may be responsible for the outbreak.

While still under investigation, preliminary data points to raw red round tomatoes, raw red plum, and raw red Roma tomatoes as the cause.

The FDA warns consumers who eat tomatoes to only eat the following types as they are NOT likely to be the source of the outbreak:

• cherry tomatoes
• grape tomatoes
• tomatoes sold with the vine still attached
• tomatoes grown at home

It is also safe to eat tomatoes of any type if you know they are from the following areas that the FDA has found to NOT be the cause of the outbreak:

Safe Sources (U.S.)
Alabama
Arkansas
California
Georgia
Hawaii
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Minnesota
Mississippi
New York
Nebraska
North Carolina
Ohio
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
West Virginia

Safe Sources (Foreign):
Belgium
Canada
Dominican Republic
Guatemala
Israel
Netherlands
Puerto Rico

As a result of the warning, you may find that many of your local restaurants have temporarily stopped using tomatoes altogether rather than risk contamination. You may also find that your local supermarket have temporarily stopped carrying Roma, plum, and round tomatoes.

For more information and updates, you can visit the FDA webpage on the warning at: http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/tomatoes.html