Salmonella Tomato Outbreak Biggest Ever

WebMD Health News ^ | June 27, 2008 | Miranda Hitti

[AngieGal]

Source of Largest Salmonella Outbreak in U.S. History May Never Be Found, Says FDA

The salmonella outbreak in tomatoes isn't over and it's already the largest salmonella outbreak the CDC has ever tracked, in terms of lab-confirmed reported illness.

Since the outbreak began in April, the CDC has gotten reports of 810 people in 36 states and Washington, D.C., sickened by Salmonella saintpaul, the outbreak's rare strain of salmonella.

The most recent onset of illness was June 15, and that may not be the last case, since the CDC gets reports of illness about 16 days after an illness starts, says Patricia Griffin, MD, chief of the CDC's enteric diseases epidemiology branch.

Griffin notes that in 1985, a salmonella outbreak in milk sickened more than 16,000 people, but those cases weren't all confirmed by lab tests, unlike the number of cases in the current salmonella tomato outbreak.

Salmonella infection (salmonellosis) can cause diarrhea (which may be bloody), fever, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Symptoms typically start 12-72 hours after infection.

[saganite]

I’m guessing organically grown. Just my 2 cents.

[stravinskyrules]

MEXICANS; WE NEED MORE MEXICANS!

[Catmom]

Didn’t this all start cuz some farm workers were takin’ dumps in the tomato fields? ;(

[ConservativeMind]

Probiotics, especially Reuteri and Lactobacillus GG, can virtually mitigate all of this concern.

[NoLibZone]

And despite all the Food Safety measures growers and distributors must now employ, they claim to not know the source.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Translation: They know exactly where it came from and they aren’t going to say. Bad for free trade.

[mware]

I steaked out 20 beef steak tomato plants in my side yard.

I'll have to wait awhile but I'll eventually get my fill of them.

[SierraWasp]

If they can't nail down who cause 5 or 6 people to actually DIE from that 2001 anthrax episode, they're never gonna hunt down and identify the source of St. Paul's Salminella. I think it was more of an exercise in MSM/DBM slow news terrorism than anything else. First it was Alar...

What can one expect from GovernMental "hunters?"

[AD from SpringBay]

...they claim to not know the source.

The source of the tomatoes was Mexico, via NAFTA, through the lowered standards thruway. This is the United States of America and we should not be expected to live in turd-world conditions. They know exactly where the tomatoes came from. Reports to the contrary are bull-crap.

[NoLibZone]

I work in Ag and have for the last 32 years.

I have to be able to tell the FDA which Ranch,row and tree a carton of fruit came from.

Date it was picked, water composition, Pre and post harvest chems used, how it was stored.

[NoLibZone]

Bingo.

If I posted the video of raw sewage water Mexico uses to irrigate Table Grapes with I’d get sued.

[cherry]

is this actually IN the tomatoes?....or is it ON the tomatoes?.....nothing much is going make me stop eating tomatoes....not even the $3.98/lb price tag the other day...( I really needed them for a luncheon)

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Yep. This is being covered up in the interest of trade relations. So what if people are poisoned, some to death, because 50+ years of safety regulations have been tossed out because they're restrictive and racist. We save a few pennies per pound, and some SOB pickers have jobs, so what the hell.

[cherry]

back in my youth, we would go pick "drops" ...."drops" being the apples that fell off the tree and couldn't be sold to eat ...but they could be collected and if they weren't in too bad condition or mouse eaten, they could be used to make cider.......cider then was not pastuerized....the apples were briefly washed with water before they were smushed up....that was REAL cider....

that was the way a lot of us grew up....eating fruit and veggies right off the plant with no washing whatsoever....and we're still alive to tell about it...

[1rudeboy]

810 people in 36 states? That’s a mighty big dump someone took.

[1rudeboy]

Riddle me this, if the safety regs have been tossed, how did we find out about the salmonella?

[ThisLittleLightofMine]

They came from Yakima.

[CindyDawg]

We have been cutting back on eating out but my husband and braved the drive thru tonight. The girl asked him if he wanted to upgrade his sandwich. He asked what he got extra and was told tomatos “but we aren't putting tomatos on them anymore. Just lettuce.” He asked if he had to pay for the tomatos if he wasn't getting any tomatos. He got like a “well yeah” response. He really shouldn't have confused the girl but they shouldn't be charging for what they aren't selling either IMO.

[Old Professer]

For the most part salmonella is a surface pathogen which means that the tomatoes affected (if we’re dealing with tomatoes at all) first reported would all have long passed their shelf life by now and a single crop could possibly be ruled out.

This brings us to dirty processing or handling practices which could be caused by a number of factors and lead to subsequent contamination.

It would seem to me that more work is needed here to rethink the way we track so-called fresh produce.

[1rudeboy]

That’s what most of these incidents come to . . . if it’s large scale, it’s systematic. It’s not some guy forgetting to wash his hands.

[RetSignman]

[Salmonella Tomato Outbreak Biggest Ever]

...and Lou Dobbs has found the culprit, you guessed it...George Bush.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

A: Some folks were poisoned, and salmonella was found to be the cause. It ain’t rocket science.

[dennisw]

Drop apples taste better than what’s on the tree because a drop apple is ripe. Too ripe and rotten is another thing

[Diogenesis]

Terrorism in the food supply by fecal tampering in Mexico?

Nothing to see here. Now eat your food.

[jerry639]

Translation: They know exactly where it came from and they aren’t going to say. Bad for free trade.

I believe you are 100% correct.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

They came from Yakima.

News to me.

[tubebender]

I read a AP story today that stated they are now looking for other causes of the outbreak. It seems a lot of the victims also ate salsa mix.

[jerry639]

?.....nothing much is going make me stop eating tomatoes....not even the $3.98/lb price tag the other day...( I really needed them for a luncheon)

How many tomatoes do you need at $3.98/lb? I have 80 plants just loaded that will be ripening soon.

[Das Outsider]

Translation: They know exactly where it came from and they aren’t going to say. Bad for free trade.

Bingo. We don't want to upset our "good friends" in Mexico. After all, one-fifth of their citizens are already here!

[DoughtyOne]

I think you’re pretty damned close to the truth bud. We need that super-highway so we can have more of this. Shush!

[mountainbunny]

Probiotics, especially Reuteri and Lactobacillus GG, can virtually mitigate all of this concern.

Are those the cultures in yoghurt or do you get them elsewhere? In what way do they work to reduce the problems of salmonella? (thanks in advance)

[upchuck]

I'd be willing to bet money the FDA has found the source: Mexico. Due to either Mexicans taking dumps in the tomato fields or sloppy handling after the tomatoes were picked, or maybe both.

Now the FDA must be “politically correct” and find a way to not implicate Mexico. Saying, “We may never know” sounds like a good excuse.

[stlnative]

It is on the tomato's. This strain cannot be washed off.
If the tomato skin is broken it can get into the tomato.

The tomato's need to be fully cooked to kill it.

You can eat tomato's that are sold with the vine still on them (green house, hot house), including all “cherry” and “grape” salad tomato's.

The home grown ones will be available pretty soon. So buy from a local farmer or gardener.

I have 18 plants in and I wish I would have planted more than 18 as my local grocery store would have bought my extras from me.

[stlnative]

The FDA says it is unsure whether the Salmonella bacteria are adhering to the surface or penetrating the flesh of the tomatoes, and therefore it discourages cooking and consuming suspect tomatoes, due to the uncertainty of whether they can be cooked thoroughly enough to destroy the bacteria.

[ConservativeMind]

Stonyfield Farms used to be the only one that carried Reuteri as one of its 6 cultures. However, a year ago, they stopped carrying that and now have a form of the GG in its place.

To get Reuteri, which is patented, in a capsule form, you need to get it from Nature's Way.

Probably the least expensive place I've found is Vitacost.com.

“Culturelle” is the brand name of the GG product. Both Reuteri and GG have large numbers of studies on them showing their efficacy for killing off bad bacteria such as salmonella.

Fortunately, Reuteri, once colonized in the gut, will stay there for a number of months before needing much replenishing. GG, I believe, also can colonize the gut.

[CindyDawg]

It's possible this might not be a Mexico problem. People could be messing with our food. IMO, the government would much rather us grumble about Mexico than even think about terrorism. It's probably a sanitary problem with irrigation but the other is a possibility too.

[CindyDawg]

Yep. A few weeks back...Jason’s Deli was posting that salsa was on hold.

[mountainbunny]

Thank you so much! My neighbor & I were talking this afternoon and it turns out that this is information she was looking for as well, so we both thank you!

[ConservativeMind]

Reuteri kills E. Coli and Salmonella:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactobacillus_reuteri

[Post-Neolithic]

The past couple of restaurants I have eaten at served tomatoes with my meal. When I asked them if the tomatoes were locally grown, their reply was always, "No but these are the approved tomatoes". My reply has always been, "So, these were approved by the same government agency that allowed the first batch to go through?"

You have to wonder just how stupid these restaurant owners/managers are. Needless to say I did not eat the tomatoes and haven't been back to either restaurant since, nor will i go back.

The count is now up to 860+ people infected since the april outbreak.