Tomato confusion

Above: States with persons with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Saintpaul, by state of residence, April 15 to June 4, 2008.

I was in the supermarket that we often shop at last night and stopped to talk with a teenager working in the produce department stocking and building a display.
I noted the red roma tomatoes on a nearby stand and I asked if the store was getting very many inquiries from people concerned about tomatoes and salmonella.
Not really answering my question, he said something like, “We don’t do business with those people that had that problem.”
"Good," I said without much conviction, not bothering to correct him (he told me it was his first month on the job) that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had not yet identified “those people” responsible for salmonella-tainted tomatoes, not to mention they had not definitely narrowed what country or region the tomatoes come from.

It goes without saying that this is not a fun time to be a produce industry decision maker who has anything to do with plum, roma or large tomatoes.



Here is coverage from the Denton Record-Chronicle that tells of more cases related to the outbreak.