Top Story
Vegetarians and the Challenge of Thanksgiving
My Journey to the Top
 
 
Latest News
Madonna, Ritchie granted preliminary divorce
 
 
expand
FOOD SAFETY

The Tomato Pickle

As the salmonella-tainted tomato outbreak continues to spread, small and local farm advocates say their produce is a safer bet. But experts aren't so sure.

By Alicia Coffman and Susanna Schrobsdorff | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Jun 13, 2008 | Updated: 3:53  p.m. ET Jun 13, 2008

« Return to Article

 
Discuss
 
Member Comments
  • Posted By: smokey_joe @ 07/04/2008 11:59:11 PM

    Comment: I read that tomato producers say that the salmonella outbreak is killing their business. What a surprise that people actually use caution in their food choices. What else did you expect? Tomato growers didn't want "country-of-origin" labelling and they had their way with the business-friendly Bush administration, so now almost all tomato crops are suspect. That's called "karma". It means that we all are affected by the good or bad results of our actions. So, now we know how the Bush food regulation system works: if your industry produces bad food - even if your farm didn't produce it - people just don't eat your product until all food poisoning cases stop for a few months. This could actually turn vegetable growers into firm believers in strict food inspection standards and swift correction of those who violate those standards. What a revelation!!! So, all those silly, stupid and boring regulations established long ago - and most recently ignored by the Bush administration - actually have a real purpose!!

  • Posted By: osprey112897@msn.com @ 06/17/2008 10:17:07 AM

    Comment: Instead of arguing over people's spelling or their atrocious grammar, why don't the comments here focus on the real question. It isn't about migrants and illegals going to the bathrooms in the fields, American workers would do the same thing. Ever see someone relieving themselves on the side of the road less than a mile from a reststop? And not all migrants are illegals and not all illegals have disgusting bathroom habits. I don't think that personal hygene is in anyway related to your citizenship status. It's also not about local farms being better than corporate farms. I grew up on a small farm but I'm not against corporate agribusiness. They can be far more efficient than local farms and use far less fuel per pound of production. Does that mean I wouldn't prefer to buy local? Of course not. Bring money into local farms, get fresher, tastier produce, but don't blame corporate farms for ruining the world. Many small local farmers use many of the same fertilizing techniques as large corporate farms, just on a smaller scale. Water that's being used for washing fruit is generally taken from a municipal water supply, not from the cattle trough or from an irrigation ditch. The real question is and should be who is responsible for the out break, what should be done about it, and how can we prevent them in the future. Wash your food before you eat it, cook it thoroughly, wash your hands, these are all common sense and they'd go a long way to prevent food outbreaks, but people don't bother. It doesn't need to be irradiated or anything else. The human race has survived for millenia without irradiating their food. Americans just need to be more careful about what they eat and how they're handling it. I don't know how anyone can say that a tomato with a stem still attached is any safer than one without. The stems can droop and the tomato can still touch the ground.

    • Posted By: ngy460 @ 06/18/2008 1:52:58 AM

      Comment: now looka here big mama osprey,,did y'all ever go down mexico and sees em how they grows em and waters with water pumped from open sewer ? and then when picked washes em off with same sewer water ? ise sho did ,, and illegals havent leared american ways yet for to be sanutary,, imagrants be here a while have somewhat ,,and them stem tomatoes are hot house grown here unde strict rules ,a pologize for m language ,but i just a po unedacated negro and cant do no better ,but ise knows a thing or 2 bout computers and growin things

  • Posted By: 71dust @ 06/16/2008 6:05:59 PM

    Comment: what their not saying is that , it is from the migrant workers crapping in the fields. yes they do it here too. but not at the same level as below the border. where it is "what you do or where you do it".

    • Posted By: ngy460 @ 06/16/2008 11:43:14 PM

      Comment: asolutelby i'se seen em do it here ,,regular ,, i live near big farm, hires em illegals ,,theys got no scuples at all bout where they go in fact someof em think they go on plant is good fo plant .==fertelizer

  • Posted By: manguns @ 06/16/2008 5:02:50 PM

    Comment: I'd rather do without than eat Mexican produce. The Mexican produce is not safe. The FDA only regulates the American stuff. If you don't want to be regulated you move your business offshore and contribute to the FDA bribery fund.

    • Posted By: davej82 @ 06/17/2008 8:40:47 PM

      Comment: Who's bribing who?

  • Posted By: leepdx @ 06/16/2008 4:54:06 PM

    Comment: Buying local produce is better in many ways not just to prevent food borne illness but it reduces the amount of fuel used to truck these products hundreds sometimes thousands of miles to market. Our society is so accustomed to having all produce at all times of the year most people don't even realize their are certain seasons for certain fruits/vegetables. I buy local as much as I can and will pay more for it.

  • Posted By: boppo414 @ 06/16/2008 3:34:10 PM

    Comment: 228 cases over 28 States that comes out to 8.14 people per State. That's almost insignificant. We need to be concerned about the safety of our food but to get this worked up over what is a very small out break is just ridiculous. PEOPLE! Stop walking through life being so frightened of every thing around you.

    • Posted By: cassann @ 06/16/2008 4:14:29 PM

      Comment: I disagree. One death is one too many, one sick person is one too many. If safe handling practices are followed, this doesnt have to happen.

  • Posted By: bunkum @ 06/16/2008 2:39:15 PM

    Comment: PerishablePundit.com , which is written by the Editor-in-Chief of PRODUCE BUSINESS magazine, has posted an in-depth round up of its exhaustive coverage of the Salmonella SaintPaul/Tomato crisis. The roundup is updated frequently at this link: http://www.perishablepundit.com/index.php?hot=salmonella

  • Posted By: bunkum @ 06/16/2008 2:38:38 PM

    Comment: PerishablePundit.com , which is written by the Editor-in-Chief of PRODUCE BUSINESS magazine, has posted an in-depth round up of its exhaustive coverage of the Salmonella SaintPaul/Tomato crisis. The roundup is updated frequently at this link: http://www.perishablepundit.com/index.php?hot=salmonella

  • Posted By: sbobgal @ 06/16/2008 1:02:09 PM

    Comment: Get you some plants at your local harvest/farmers store. Grow your own - I have sic tomator and four pepper plants blooming right now that are doing very well. Can't wait to the flowers fruit. I think the farmers markets and locally grown is ideal. Help ma and pa and bring some business back locally.

  • Posted By: brucebessell @ 06/16/2008 1:01:17 PM

    Comment: Amphibians live on the moist ground. Reptiles live on the moist ground. Tomatoes rest on the moist ground. Fish live in water. All of these are sources of Salmonella. Maybe we need to outlaw water.

    Cooking fish seems to neutralize the Salmonella.

    Washing the utensils used for preparing the fish seems to remove the Salmonella.

    Could Hygiene be the answer?

    Maybe we just need to wash our food before preparing it.

  • Posted By: brucebessell @ 06/16/2008 12:58:48 PM

    Comment: Amphibians live on the moist ground. Reptiles live on the moist ground. Tomatoes rest on the moist ground. Fish live in water. All of these are sources of Salmonella. Maybe we need to outlaw water.

    Cooking fish seems to neutralize the Salmonella.

    Washing the utensils used for preparing the fish seems to remove the Salmonella.

    Could Hygiene be the answer?

    Maybe we just need to wash our food before preparing it.

  • Posted By: cyberbian @ 06/16/2008 12:20:50 AM

    Comment: You professionals should do some homework before you buy into propagana designed to force Irradiation of everyones food supply.

    In the last two years there have been about 6 outbreaks of salmonilla each year, some larger than this one.
    Why are we hearing about this one now. Legislation is pending. Pretty soon everything we eat will be dead and sterilized. The nutrition and the life zapped out of it!

    Shame on you!

    • Posted By: Gary Richard @ 06/16/2008 1:06:22 PM

      Comment: They said the same thing about pasteurization in the 1800's. Irradiation is exactly the same as pasteurization, only using large doses of radiation instead of heat. Pasteurization does not affect the nutritional content of milk, cheese and canned food (although it does alter flavor). Please do not make statement about irradiation until you understand all the facts.

      BTW, radiation does not make you radioactive. Contamination makes you radioactive. Dosing food with high energy rays will not make it radioactive. The mass hysteria against irradiation would end if people would educate themselves instead of listening to propaganda.

  • Posted By: cyberbian @ 06/16/2008 12:20:31 AM

    Comment: You professionals should do some homework before you buy into propagana designed to force Irradiation of everyones food supply.

    In the last two years there have been about 6 outbreaks of salmonilla each year, some larger than this one.
    Why are we hearing about this one now. Legislation is pending. Pretty soon everything we eat will be dead and sterilized. The nutrition and the life zapped out of it!

    Shame on you!

  • Posted By: marthagrace @ 06/15/2008 1:14:17 PM

    Comment: The fact that you can't get every kind of produce all year long from the farmers' market is not a "problem" - it's the way we should be eating. The reporting in this article is pitiful - supporters of local farmers lay out logical arguments as to why local tomatoes are safer, and spokespeople for industrial farming respond with blatant generalizations and straight out lies. Local farmers can't afford to bring unsafe produce to the market. If anyone was sickened by it, they would know where it came from. It's ridiculous to assume that huge commercial farms feel anything close to that level of responsibility.

    • Posted By: flowerchild6419 @ 06/16/2008 12:29:42 PM

      Comment: marthagrace--I couldn't have said it better myself. Great comment!

  • Posted By: bobohio1968 @ 06/15/2008 12:12:10 PM

    Comment: I'm amazed that ZEKE56 is amazed, since he can't spell "grammar" correctly.

  • Posted By: ZEKE56 @ 06/15/2008 9:41:21 AM

    Comment: I'm amazed by some of the language and grammer displayed here that these people who are writing these comments even know what a computer is, let alone use one.

  • Posted By: ZEKE56 @ 06/15/2008 9:40:42 AM

    Comment: Judging by the language and grammer of ngy, I am amazed he can use a computer to post a comment.

    • Posted By: ngy460 @ 06/16/2008 1:15:50 AM

      Comment: well,mista zeke ,, thats all right ,, we not typist has to do it 2 finger way, but computers ,we knows em well l,tears em dow n,fix em ,even builds em, right now got keyboard that miss letters gotta replace. b'sides us talks ebonics with friends and writes the way we talks ,,dont follow white man ways .

  • Posted By: ZEKE56 @ 06/15/2008 9:38:52 AM

    Comment: I'm amazed by some of the language and grammer displayed here that these people who are writing these comments even know what a computer is, let alone use one.

  • Posted By: rrekowski @ 06/14/2008 9:14:07 PM

    Comment: One problem with Farmer markets. In Northern climates you can't get tomatoes and all other veggies and fruits during most of the year. Shipping from far away locations, domestic and international, is the only viable source.

  • Posted By: ngy460 @ 06/14/2008 12:11:34 AM

    Comment: when y'all got illegal aliens workin in the us farmers fields ,and they p and poop in the field ,what do y'all expect? they goes right on the plants ,,i'se seen em,, they govt make the farmers puts porable toilets at endsof fields ,but sometimes those workers are 1/4 to 1/2 miles away do y'all think they gonna walk all that far? the farmer dont care . .he cpmply by puttin the toileet . thats all. same way down in mexico ,,they grow em in sewer soil amd water them and wash with sewer water. wise up americans ...this global crap aint no good .

    • Posted By: ngy460 @ 06/14/2008 12:15:54 AM

      Comment: they say 40% of those peoples are diseased , tb and all lot of other stuff.. lots of american negros would like to have those jobs and you wouldt see them doin that cause they americans

  • Posted By: alstan3 @ 06/13/2008 11:11:37 PM

    Comment: Get an effin grip!!! 228 people out of 300 million. Wash your fruit, and yes a tomato is a fruit, before you eat it.

  • Posted By: votenic @ 06/13/2008 9:46:34 PM

    Comment: Daily garden tips at gardenviewdotcom

  • Posted By: olderwiser @ 06/13/2008 7:12:49 PM

    Comment: My tomatoes in my backyard garden just started ripening last week. I put out 40 plants of different types, from Brandywine Heirloom to grape and cherry varieties. It has been a yearly event for us almost every year of our over fifty years of marriage. It has always been "worth it", but never more so than this year. Give it a try. You'll never regret it. Nothing that you buy at the supermarket can get near the exotic taste of a vine ripened home grown tomato.

    • Posted By: sbobgal @ 06/16/2008 1:07:40 PM

      Comment: Absolutely true wiser! I like to take a homegrown tomato leaf and rub it between my hands and inhale - what a delightful fragrance! I believe it is an aphrodisiac lol.

 
 
Reply
Cancel
 
 
Report Abuse

Enter comments if any for reporting abuse

Cancel
 
The Peek
 
 
ENTERPRISE
Keith Naughton

Hot Wheels are hot again. Parent company Mattel is now worth more than GM. Got an old Beach Bomb VW model in the attic? You're rich!

Sponsored by
 
 
 
 
THE WHITE HOUSE
Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball
Sponsored by
 
 
 
loadingLoading Menu