The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a warning about a salmonella outbreak related to tomatoes. Right now, the FDA does not know for sure where the contaminated tomatoes are coming from. As of the posting of this article, tomatoes from Florida and Mexico are NOT on the FDA’s safe list.
Since mid-April, the FDA has received reports of 167 cases of salmonellosis associated with eating raw tomatoes. Twenty-three of those cases required hospitalization and one patient has died. Infections have occurred most often in New Mexico and Texas. The FDA issued the first warnings about contaminated tomatoes on June 3rd; restaurants and food stores started voluntarily withdrawing tomatoes.
Consumers are warned to avoid:
- Raw red Roma tomatoes
- Raw plum tomatoes
- Raw large round tomatoes
Other types of tomatoes (including cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, and tomatoes sold with the vine attached) are currently thought to be safe to eat. Home-grown tomatoes are also considered safe to eat.
Also, red Roma, red round tomatoes, and plum tomatoes from these areas are currently thought to be safe to eat:
U.S. sources of safe tomatoes:
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- California
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- New York
- Nebraska
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Pennsylvania
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Texas
- West Virginia
International sources of safe tomatoes:
- Belgium
- Canada
- Dominican Republic
- Guatemala
- Israel
- Netherlands
- Puerto Rico
The salmonella that is causing the current outbreak is an unusual variant of the salmonella bacteria: salmonella saintpaul. According to the FDA, this variant is no more dangerous or virulent than other forms of salmonella.
If you do not know where your tomatoes are from, contact the place where you purchased them. You can also visit the FDA website for advice and information on what to about contaminated tomatoes.