Are you still eating tomatoes despite the salmonella scare ?
I'm buying 'on the vine'... after hearing someone say "on the vine is fine" but I keep hearing about more and more cases... I love tomatoes and usually eat a lot of them during the week. I've limited my intake though.......
We have some red now in our garden (yea!!!), but yes, I was eating them from stores before mine turned. Heard today on the news that salmonella was caused by salsa - so they are now investigating the cilantro and peppers (it may not be the tomatoes after all).
Yup... I don't really buy them because I don't eat raw tomatoes much, but most of the restaurants, delis, etc that I go to were using locally grown tomatoes anyway, so they were safe. I've eaten them on a fast food salad since they came back and not worried much about it, too. I don't have the time to be paranoid.
Salmonella and e.coli scares, generally don't scare me very much.
In the first place, the odds are rather small, regardless, and for most people in good health, both tend to be more of a... uh.... painful, inconvenience than a true health hazzard.
Also, the microbes are VERY common, and you've probably ingested them - and suffered to some degree - for it. If you've ever had the "24 hour" stomach flu, there's a good chance you've had salmonella, e.coli, or another food bourn illness.
Don't get me wrong, there are exceptions. My cousin and her son got sick about 10 years ago from a salmonella outbreak in a new Taco Bell that wasn't storing or cooking their chicken for the chicken tacos properly. My cousin took her son and herself to the emergency room because of severe vomiting and diarrhea. They both had to have bloodwork done to identify the illness and check for dehydration. My cousin was told to take OTC medications and was able to go home, but her son (under 2) was hospitalized overnight until they could get the vomiting and diarrhea under control while monitoring him for dehydration (she stayed with him, so the hospital actually suppled the OTC medication to her, at an exhorbitant expense, of course).
Very unpleasant, and even traumatic, but generally not life threatening. Also, the more you're exposed to them, the more resistant you become to these infections (have you ever wondered why Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern on the travel channel don't get sick from all of the stuff they eat on their shows - well they do get sick, and even talk about it on their show - but they've built up a great deal of tolerance as a result. They will tell you they get sick much less frequently and much less severely than they did when they first started eating in foreign countries).
I still eat them. I'm not worried about it at all--I've had so much cookie dough and homemade ceaser salad (both containing raw eggs) in my life not to be scared by it!
Are You Still Eating Tomatoes ?
