The slow-rolling salmonella outbreak in several states has finally got health officials seriously alarmed. Today the FDA asked New Mexico and Texas grocery stores, restaurants, hospitals and schools to stop selling and serving the tomatoes that are thought to carry the salmonella bacteria. Too bad there's not a parallel outbreak of bad comedy, because somewhere in the Southwest right now, hundreds of thousands of tomatoes are rotting. The FDA singled out raw red plum, Roma and round red tomatoes as the possible culprits, and also reminded consumers to stay away from fresh salsa made with tomatoes. The agency also issued recommendations that sound not only sensible, but a bit tastier.
[C]onsumers in New Mexico and Texas should limit their tomato consumption to tomatoes that have not been implicated in the outbreak. These include cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, tomatoes sold with the vine still attached, and tomatoes grown at home [FDA].
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