Raw reaction: Consumers on tomatoes/salmonella

How do consumers feel about food in the wake of the tomatoes/salmonella outbreak? Here are some "man on the street" reactions published June 22 from the Eastern newspaper The Herald-Mail.

The second question was: In light of the recent recall of some types of tomatoes because of a salmonella scare, do you feel secure that the food you eat, whether vegetables, fruit, dairy or meat, is safe?

"Just like the bird flu and the many other 'scares' we see all the time from our media friends, this was way overblown."

"With our government being afraid to upset the other countries that import foodstuffs to this country, yet letting them stop our imports of foods to their people every time something comes up they don't like, we should demand that we have the same option, to stop the food from South America and Mexico, when things like this start. We have yet to get our inspectors in to Mexico, as they are reluctant for us to send them in to check."

"I voted yes. The number of people who are usually victims of these salmonella scares are small. We have probably all had salmonella at one time or another as a result of our own neglect of proper cooking or cleaning up or not washing our hands. On the whole, I believe our foods are safe."

"Much safer than some restaurants. Reading the ratings is pretty disgusting. Same violations over and over. Improper hand-washing facilities or lack of hand-washing supplies seems to be very common and is very unsafe."

"I look at it this way ... one day, something is good for you, then the next, it is bad. So who is to say what the heck is good or back. If you like it, eat it. End of story."

"I'd rather go a little quicker than laying around for a month with E. coli or salmonella. If more people don't buy possibly tainted products, the producers might clean up their act to avoid bankruptcy. Small unknowing children don't have a choice. They have to eat whatever us caring, intelligent adults give them. If we want to roll the dice ourselves, go for it, but look out for the innocents."