Update: Salmonella Cases Rise, Probe Moves to Florida & Mexico
By Alex Coffman on Jun 22nd, 2008 in Food, Headlines | Add story link to StumbleUpon
The search for the source of a salmonella outbreak involving raw tomatoes turns its focus to farms and distributors in Florida and Mexico.
Reports of hundreds of people sickened in the outbreak have been coming in since April. As of this weekend, the Centers for Disease Control puts the total at 552 people in 32 states and Washington, D.C. with the rare Salmonella Saintpaul strain.
It’s a situation that has proved confusing for consumers, who saw tomatoes removed from grocery produce sections and restaurants earlier this month. The FDA has said all along that the tainted tomatoes are only the red Roma, red plum, and red round varieties, and that cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, those on the vine, and home-grown tomatoes are all safe to eat.
The FDA continues to update a list of states and countries whose tomatoes have been ruled out in the probe, but reminds consumers that some of the suspect tomatoes could still have been trucked into these areas.
Here is the list of areas not linked to the outbreak and safe to eat, as of June 19:
U. S.:
Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida (counties of: Jackson, Gadsden, Leon, Jefferson, Madison, Suwannee, Hamilton, Hillsborough, Polk, Manatee, Hardee, DeSoto, Sarasota, Highlands, Pasco, Sumter, Citrus, Hernando, Charlotte), Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah
Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin
Outside U.S.:
Baja California (Norte) Mexico, Belgium, Canada, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Israel, Netherlands, Puerto Rico
