Latest Tomatoes Stories

By Delthia Ricks, Newsday, Melville, N.Y. Jun. 19--A West Babylon man has become the first Long Island case in a salmonella outbreak linked to uncooked tomatoes that has sickened 383 people in 30 states. Federal health officials yesterday announced they had learned of 106 more cases than were known at the beginning of the week. The sudden uptick is attributed to a backlog in reporting in several states, so that people who got sick weeks ago were only now being counted. Even as the number...

By Brian Brus Consumers have come to appreciate Oklahoma-grown tomatoes a little more thanks to a recent salmonella scare across the country, farmers market producers said. "Our last batch of tomatoes at the OSU farmers market Saturday morning lasted about 20 minutes," said Robert Stelle, owner of Sunrise Acres in Blanchard. "We've never had a hard time selling tomatoes, but they're moving even quicker now. I think it's actually helped." And John Leonard, who operates Organic Gardens in El...

By Marlene Naanes, amNewYork, New York Jun. 19--Six new cases of salmonella linked to eating raw tomatoes have been identified in New York City, bringing the total number of cases in the city to seven, the health department said Wednesday. Officials said it is likely more cases will be identified in the coming days and weeks because the source of tainted tomatoes has not been found. The health department said New Yorkers, especially the elderly, infants and people with weakened immune...

By Ashley Smith, The Telegraph, Nashua, N.H. Jun. 17--Several local restaurants are back to serving tomatoes after their suppliers were cleared as sources of the recent salmonella outbreak, but grocery stores have been slower to restock the shelves. While the origin of the tainted tomatoes remains a mystery, New Hampshire health officials are still cautioning against eating certain raw varieties unless you can pinpoint the fruit's exact origin. "Businesses have done a very good job...

By Joyzelle Davis Tomatoes are back on the menu. Wendy's, Taco Bell and Chipotle are among the restaurants once again serving raw tomatoes after the federal regulators have cleared an increasing number of suppliers as not being the source of a salmonella outbreak that sickened 277 people nationwide. Restaurants and grocery stores stopped offering many varieties of tomatoes last week after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned consumers to stop eating uncooked plum, Roma and round...

CHICAGO _ David Acheson is the nation's top food detective, but so far he has met his match in the wily tomato. With the salmonella scare that has plagued tomatoes, Acheson has faced perhaps his biggest test _ at least as far as outbreaks of illness go _ since he assumed the newly created "food safety czar" post at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration roughly a year ago. That position was born amid a growing concern the FDA couldn't get a grip on food safety, as tales of foodborne...

By Jamie Durant, Florence Morning News, S.C. Jun. 18--FLORENCE -- Across the country, people have been on high alert about the tomato salmonella scare. Here in the Pee Dee, people are finding ways to get their tomato fix by supporting local growers and home gardens. Some local growers at the Pee Dee State Farmers Market said the scare really hasn't had much effect on their sales. "We've had questions about them, but it really hasn't hurt sales," Lee Kelly, of Countryside Farms at the...

By Reuters WASHINGTON -- Food safety officials Monday said they hope that a cluster of nine cases of salmonella poisoning yields clues that lead them to the source of an outbreak that has sickened 277 people in 28 states. David Acheson, director of food safety for the Food and Drug Administration, said the cluster is confined to a single geographic location and that all of the sickened individuals appeared to have eaten similar types of tomatoes. "It's essentially a very solid lead for us,"...

By Allison Flynn, The Star, Shelby, N.C. Jun. 13--Worried about the safety of your tomatoes? If it was grown in North Carolina, you're safe, according to Marty Allen, environmental health director at the Cleveland County Health Department. "As of June 10, we have not had any illnesses in North Carolina associated with the outbreak," Allen said. Allen has been fielding phone calls from concerned consumers since the salmonella outbreak, which has sickened 167 people in 17 states since...

Mexican tomato producers say they're being unfairly targeted as the source of a salmonella outbreak that has sickened hundreds of people in the United States. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says it has narrowed its investigation of the source of the outbreak to Mexico and southern Florida, which supplied the bulk of the suspect red plum, red Roma and round red tomatoes in April. But Mexican producers say they're suffering the economic consequences before the facts are in, The Los...