I was joking but, seriesly?
Posted on 06/08/2008 3:49:11 AM PDT by Pharmboy
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — Salmonella food poisoning first linked to uncooked tomatoes has spread to 16 states, federal health officials said Saturday.
Investigations by the health departments of Texas and New Mexico and the federal Indian Health Service have tied 56 cases in Texas and 55 in New Mexico to raw, uncooked tomatoes.
“We’re seeing a steady increase,” said Deborah Busemeyer, the communications director for the New Mexico Department of Health.
An additional 50 people have been sickened by the same salmonella infection in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Oklahoma, Oregon, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
Investigators are trying to determine if raw tomatoes are also responsible for the illnesses in those states, said Arleen Porcell, a spokeswoman for the C.D.C.
The source of the tomatoes responsible for the illnesses has not been determined.
At least 23 people have been hospitalized, and no deaths have been reported, Ms. Porcell said.
The rarity of the salmonella strain and the number of illnesses “suggest that implicated tomatoes are distributed throughout the country,” she said.
Cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, tomatoes sold with the vine still attached and homegrown tomatoes are likely not the source of the outbreak, Ms. Busemeyer said.
Salmonella, snip...usually is transmitted to humans who eat food contaminated with animal feces.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Years ago, there was a show on PBS about some hippy guru geezer commune in like Virginia or something. They grew most of their own food. But about once a week, they would have a ritual where they would sprinkle some of the local dirt on their salads.
Result?
They basically couldn’t remember the last time they got sick...”
Hippies can’t remember the last time they remembered something.
...splinter story...
***
Don’t know how old your son is, but my posterior splinter is about 57 years old right now.
Perhaps they don't come from Mexico.
Around here, they've been saying that it's IN the tomatoes, not ON them.
We had my neighborhood farmer’s market today. Picked up a pound of heirlooms (”the tomato that tastes like a tomato”). Being organic, you bet your tukas I washed them!
GMTA ;)
Chinese garlic is gross (all the burn of garlic, none of the taste), while Mexican Eggplant is bitter, albeit bitterness is more of a result of sitting in a wearhouse for a week before hitting the shelf.
I love eggplant, but need to buy it as fresh as possible. ALways remember to cook eggplant within two days of purchase. If it is "seedy" (ie seeds start to germinate) salt it lightly to take care of the bitterness.
Now, weren't we saying somethig about tomatoes?
(I finally landed a nice job at a ravioli manufacturer in May.)
He’s 37, the splinter has been there about 29 years probably.
Cool! Thanks for the recipe!
thank you.
Pitching that tomato. see link 96
I'd not thought about this before, maine-iac7: But it makes sense. Thanks.
“Salmonella, a bacteria, lives in the intestinal tracts of humans and animals. It usually is transmitted to humans who eat food contaminated with animal feces.”
I have a compost but don’t put dog doo in it like I’ve heard other folks do. Can’t imagine why folks do that.
I was joking but, seriesly?
I won't buy produce Mexican or other Southern and Central countries (except bananas) if possible. The Campari tomatoes I just bought are from Canada. I believe they have a lot of Salmonellae in their soil. And they are known to use effluence to irrigate.
To make my statement clearer, I meant to say, “I believe in Mexico, they have a lot of Salmonellae in their soil. And they (Mexican agriculture) are known to use effluence to irrigate.
Internalization of bacterial pathogens in tomatoes and their control by selected chemicals.
Ibarra-Sánchez LS, Alvarado-Casillas S, Rodríguez-García MO, Martínez-Gonzáles NE, Castillo A.
Posgrado en Procesos Biotecnológicos, Universidad de Guadalajara, Guadalajara, Jalisco 44430, Mexico.
The effect of different washing or sanitizing agents was compared for preventing or reducing surface and internal contamination of tomatoes by Salmonella Typhimurium and Escherichia coli O157:H7. The tomatoes were inoculated by dipping them in a bacterial suspension containing approximately 6.0 log CFU/ml of each pathogen and then rinsing them with tap water, hypochlorite solution (250 mg/liter), or lactic acid solution (2%, wt/vol). All treatments were applied by dipping or spraying, and solutions were applied at 5, 25, 35, and 55 degrees C. With the exception of the lactic acid dip at 5 degrees C, all treatments reduced both pathogens on the surfaces of the tomatoes by at least 2.9 cycles. No significantly different results were obtained (P > 0.05) with the dipping and spraying techniques. For internalized pathogens, the mean counts for tomatoes treated with water alone or with chlorine ranged from 0.8 to 2.1 log CFU/g. In contrast, after lactic acid spray treatment, all core samples of tomatoes tested negative for Salmonella Typhimurium and, except for one sample with a low but detectable count, all samples tested negative for E. coli O157:H7 with a plate count method. When the absence of pathogens was verified by an enrichment method, Salmonella was not recovered from any samples, whereas two of four samples tested positive for E. coli O157:H7 even though the counts were negative. Few cells of internalized pathogens were able to survive in the center of the tomato during storage at room temperature (25 to 28 degrees C). The average superficial pH of tomatoes treated with tap water, chlorine, or lactic acid was 4.9 to 5.2, 4.1 to 4.3, and 2.5, respectively (P < 0.05), whereas no differences were observed in the internal pH (3.6 to 3.7) of the tomatoes treated with different sanitizers. The general practice in the tomato industry is to wash the tomatoes in chlorinated water. However, chlorine is rapidly degraded by organic matter usually present in produce. Therefore, lactic acid sprays may be a more effective alternative for decontaminating tomato surfaces. The use of warm (55 degrees C) sprays could reduce pathogen internalization during washing.
ROSES & HANGING BASKETS
A teenage granddaughter comes downstairs for her date
with this see-through blouse on and no bra.
Her grandmother just pitched a fit, telling her not to dare go out like that!
The teenager tells her ‘Loosen up Grams. These are modern times. You gotta let your rose buds show!’ and out she goes.
The next day the teenager comes down stairs, and the grandmother is sitting there with no top on. The teenager wants to die.
She explains to her grandmother that she has friends coming over and that it is just not appropriate....
The grandmother says, ‘Loosen up, Sweetie. If you can show off your rose buds, then I can display my hanging baskets.
Happy Gardening.
That was actually here in Southern Oregon.
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