Salmonella Fear Traps Tomatoes in Mexico

yahoo.com ^ | June 13, 2008 | OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ

[InvisibleChurch]

I’ll bet tomatoes head to the US embassy for help.

[mewzilla]

A delegation of Mexican officials flew to Washington D.C. on Thursday to help the FDA find the source of the outbreak, Cardenas added.

Snort. I'll bet.

Meanwhile....

Mexico urges end of tainted tomato probe

And a couple of days ago, didn't the state of New Mexico's health department finger Mexican tomatoes as the culprit?

[devane617]

crapping in the fields...

[mewzilla]

Add VT to the list....

Vermonter sickened by tomatoes

[Diogenesis]

Why blame the tomatoes?

This is terrorism from a human anus.

[sam_paine]

and stopped buying the fruit this week.

Refreshing to see a reporter who knows that maters are actually fruit not veggies.

[G.Mason]

" ... "The gringos are really demanding about quality," said Ricardo ... " (one of the few Mexicali's that are still in Mexcico)

Yep ... we're really demanding about quality.

One look at our political leaders will tell you that.

[Mercat]

A woman in my office got the bug from eating raw tomatoes that she bought at WalMart

[cripplecreek]

I think they’re a type of berry aren’t they?

[dljordan]

They use sewage sludge on their crops. http://asae.frymulti.com/abstract.asp?aid=16465&t=2

[doodad]

And what did testing of these tomatoes held at the border reveal? Hmmmmm?

[dforest]

Mexico needs to keep the tomatoes and some citzens of theirs in Mexico.

Ought oh, Juan might take away my bonus points on this one.

[livius]

Here in Florida, growers go to the Skid Row in Jax or other cities to hire crack heads and winos to pick the crops. A large number of them are HIV infected, have TB, hepatitis, etc. The general health of these people is awful and you know they don’t go to the porta potty when the urge strikes. While you can’t get first two diseases from eating food, these people are disease ridden they can probably give you something just by touching the produce!

I’m always surprised we don’t have more outbreaks like this.

[mad_as_he$$]

"About 120,000 people were sickened by salmonella in Mexico last year, according to Mexican health authorities _ three times the average 40,000 cases reported in the U.S., according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "

So 1/3 the population has three time the number of case but it is all ok? There is more at play here. This was the worst publicized recalls EVER. It did not even make national news until last week and has been going on since April.

[mewzilla]

Could also be composting and/or irrigation practices. Irrigating with contaminated water. Using compost that hasn’t been properly cooked. Ick.

[BlueAngel]

Mexico and Florida per Fox News.

[NonValueAdded]

Tomatoes from several counties in Florida are also under suspicion, the FDA said.

From Marketwatch.com article Bad-tomato outbreak spreads to more states:

While 19 Florida counties are safe to ship their tomatoes again, some top-producing counties, such as Collier and Dade, still are under investigation.

Most Florida growers are shipping again. The Florida Agriculture Department has issued certificates verifying the origin for estimated several thousand loads, state officials said.

Ruh-roh. The news in Florida was that Florida tomatoes were safe. This is new info.

[T Baden]

It’s interesting that we can keep illegal tomatoes from Mexico coming into the U.S. Perhaps we can apply the same scrutiny to illegal immigrants.

[mewzilla]

Interesting link to Salmonella in horses, mentions the Saint Paul strain....

Risk factors associated with fecal Salmonella shedding among hospitalized horses with signs of gastrointestinal tract disease

Saint Paul's also been seen in wild turkeys in FL.