Investigation of Outbreak of Infections Caused by Tomatoes, Salmonella Saintpaul

[Food Network Fan]

I guess you don't expect this as much with veggies.

[BerryBaby]

Isn't the tomato part of the fruit family? I think it was changed years ago to the veggie family. In any case, this reminds me of the watermelon, cataloupe and spinach illnesses a while back.

Bet a lot of it comes from the handlers and/or the source of the water like it was with the spinach.

[Food Network Fan]

I think it was changed so they could consider catsup a vegetable in the school lunch program.

[BerryBaby]

It does seem more logical. There is a big story somewhere about how the tomato was a fruit and sometime ago, I think one of the presidents changed it to the vegetable family. I'm sure someone will find it and post it.:img52:

[BernerMommy]

Originally Posted by BerryBaby

It does seem more logical. There is a big story somewhere about how the tomato was a fruit and sometime ago, I think one of the presidents changed it to the vegetable family. I'm sure someone will find it and post it.:img52:

It was Ronald Regan who wanted catsup to be considered a vegetable in school lunches.

[Food Network Fan]

CDC: Salmonella-tainted tomato illnesses reach 228 AP - 1 hour, 14 minutes ago WASHINGTON - The toll from salmonella-tainted tomatoes jumped to 228 illnesses Thursday as the government learned of five dozen previously unknown cases and said it is possible the food poisoning contributed to a cancer patient's death.



I feel bad for the farmers. I am sure this is hitting them very hard. Even the ones who have had nothing to do with the sickness.

[Food Network Fan]

Originally Posted by BernerMommy

It was Ronald Regan who wanted catsup to be considered a vegetable in school lunches.

Well according to forum rules and keeping politics out of this as much as possible (I hope).. It was actually a part of a congressional spending cut in the late 1980's and was completed in early 1981, Reagan would have only been in office a month or two. And it was done because during the the previous year congress voted to cut $1 billion from child-nutrition funding and gave the USDA 90 days to come up with the standards which really isn't long when you consider how long it takes them to do everything else.
The USDA decided to allow it to be classified as a vegetable if used as an ingredient, but not a condiment. There was a lot of blame during that time between Presidents Reagan/Carter because one inherited what the other did, but Congress is where votes on such things take place, so it's not really a presidential matter.

And those kind of fights are why we do not discuss politics here.

[BerryBaby]

Haven't read anything regarding canned tomatoes. Does anyone know if they were affected by this outbreak? I know they use Roma quite a bit in canned sauces, etc.

[Food Network Fan]

The canning process actually cooks anything that goes into the can to a certain degree, but I don't know if it's enough to wipe this out.

I haven't heard canned items mentioned though.

[isilzha]

I guess some places are selling tomatoes again, but we aren't so that makes people mad too.