UPDATE, June 11: I've been amazed with how swiftly restaurants pulled tomatoes from their menus. A worker at a sandwich shop told me today that customers are getting irate, leaving half-made sandwiches on the counter when they learn there are no tomatoes. The FDA has said certain kinds of raw tomatoes are OK to eat. Do you know of any restaurants that
are serving them?
Yes, Monday marked exactly 30 years since the release (in West Germany, anyway) of that
cinematic gem.
But when I arrived at Kroger on Seawall Boulevard today to find it had removed not just the fruit, but the entire set of shelves it once occupied, it was more than just B-movie horror that inspired the move.
You could hear store patrons distastefully whisper the offending word as if saying it aloud would infect the grapefruit and the rutabagas, too.
"Salmonella."
Federal authorities have attributed
40 illnesses in nine states to raw tomatoes. They haven't pinned down the farm, distributor, grocery chain or other source.
As the
E. coli outbreak from spinach demonstrated in 2006, officials may never get definitive answers about how the contamination occurred.
But the answer usually goes something like this: Feces, from a nearby feedlot or from wild animals, got into the irrigation water or, in the case of a bacterial outbreak in meat, feces from the animals themselves just got mixed in during the slaughter.
The federal government responds with guidance to suppliers about how they can improve safety and hygeine, and with notices to the public about how to cook and wash food. Congress asks lots of questions about the big food suppliers and distributors, and whether there's enough oversight. Then, on a larger or smaller scale, months or years later, the whole thing repeats itself.
Maybe the whispering is a good idea. The rutabagas could be next.
