Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

It looks like the killer tomatoes got off easy. McDonald's reinstated tomatoes on their menu over a week ago. Our cultural short attention span has kicked into gear; how quickly we forgive and forget. At my restaurants I actually do still have customers asking me why I have tomatoes on the menu. Since they're organic, greenhouse heirloom tomatoes, and listed as such on the menu, I silently thank the hours I've spent in therapy and yoga, take a deep breath, and explain for the hundredth time today that those aren't the tomatoes that can kill you.

But my customers are right to be concerned, and thank goodness a few people still are. We shouldn't forget so easily, because then we'll never get to the bottom of why we are being poisoned by our own food supply.

We shouldn't be getting sick from eating healthy foods like tomatoes, or spinach, last year's big scare (which, ironically, was announced the morning after my greens-hating youngest son was finally persuaded to try a spinach salad for the first time). Like the spinach incident, this year's tomato scandal reads like science fiction. Twenty-three people in seventeen states have been hospitalized with salmonella food poisoning after eating raw tomatoes. The FDA is investigating and clearing states and countries. Seven of the people dined at the same fast food restaurant, which helps narrow it down just a little. The implicated vegetables are Roma tomatoes and "round" tomatoes (um, the last time I checked all tomatoes were round). At last report the FDA suspected that the killer tomatoes came from Florida or Mexico, which both have vast corporate farms. These farms grow food purely for profit, without much concern for the land. The idea is to grow as much as possible, as fast as possible; that's not what true farming is about.

I do believe the FDA is doing the best it can to investigate this, and they have the brainpower and dedication to do it. Unfortunately, they don't have the manpower, since their budget has been cut by the current administration, like every other non-defense government agency. The Bush administration must finally be realizing this; they requested an emergency $275 million dollar addition to the FDA budget for 2009. That must mean that even they are afraid the metaphorical levee is going to break. They're right. It's getting out of control. If our food supply is so vulnerable that we're poisoning ourselves inadvertently, it's not hard to imagine what a terrorist could do. One day, boom: "Atlanta (home of the Centers for Disease Control), we have a problem."

Here's an idea. Since we're now being terrorized by produce, maybe the FDA should be funded by the Department of Homeland Security. Maybe then the FDA will have the resources to figure out how to keep our food supply safe and secure, and deal with the real issues that can turn a tomato into a killer.

Comments

[KillerCarlson]

I know I'm gonna miss her
A tomato killed my sister
Sacramento puked today
They're crapping in San Jose
Tomatoes are on their way!

[111]

The tomatoes were never found to actually be contaminated. The people who were infected were interviewed. Tomatoes and lettuce were the only foods common to the people interviewed but there were never any actual tomatoes found to be infected.

We still don't know for sure what caused the outbreak. because the investigation ended regardless of the lack of actual evidence.

The FDA doesn't much care about health and safety, if they did cigarettes would have been illegal many years ago. for example -

The FDA - "..scientific evidence shows--that ephedra poses an unreasonable risk to those who use it...raises blood pressure and stresses the circulatory system. These reactions have been linked to serious health problems, including heart ailments and strokes.

The CDC on smoking - http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/Factsheets/health_effects.htm

Smoking harms nearly every organ of the body; causing many diseases and reducing the health of smokers in general. The adverse health effects from cigarette smoking account for an estimated 438,000 deaths, or nearly 1 of every 5 deaths, each year in the United States. More deaths are caused each year by tobacco use than by all deaths from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined.

But they tobacco has a powerful lobby in Washington, so there you go.

[wolfgangmo]

Absolutely true. And let's not forget that the FDA is a revolving door for the food and drug corporations just like the Pentagon is a revolving door for the defense corporations.

Their advisory boards are largely staffed by ex pharma and agribiz employees, who then rotate back to jobs in those same corporations that they are supposed to regulate. The fox bought the damn chick coop.

The FDA is largely a dog and pony show for the rubes these days.

[beauley]

For a few decades now, the U.S. has been advocating and implementing irradiation of some of our foods, mainly ground beef, chicken and as of late, many of our fruits and vegetables. During much of this time period, public reaction has been predominantly against it and many consumer advocates hope to eventually topple our governments efforts.

Should We Irradiate Our Foods?

[wolfgangmo]

If and only if they label it.

I will avoid it like the plague that it could be. That is my choice.

If regulation passes that doesn't mandate labeling then I will make food choices that guarantee that I am getting no irradiated foods.

This is a gathering of a few studies that point to some serious problems with irradiation. http://www.mercola.com/article/irradiated/irradiated_research.htm

[beauley]

Worry about pills, not tomatoes

To the Editor:

I'm no mathematician, but the figures I'm going to throw out to you enrage me. Approximately 165 people have gotten sick from eating tomatoes since April; 24 are reported being hospitalized. One person has died who was unfortunately already sick with an underlying condition. Stores and restaurants are pulling tomatoes off their shelves and menus. People are scared to eat tomatoes.

Are you scared to take your pill today or start a new one? Approximately 2 million people a year are sickened or injured by OTC and prescription drugs; over 100,000 die. You do the math. Have the media told you that? Oh, yea, they're owned by pharmaceutical companies. We wouldn't want to put them out of business. Let's just put our hard-working farmers out of business.

More people have gotten sick in the past hour from prescription and OTC drugs than have gotten sick from tomatoes in the past three months. Is this why we don't even make the top 10 in life expectancy? How does any of this make any sense?

We have become a drug-dependent, oversanitized society with no immune systems. How many healthy people are keeling over because they ate some contaminated food? (According to the CDC, deaths are rare). How many healthy people are on drugs?

Do the farmers a favor and eat your tomatoes.

Marina Shearn
Dublin


June 19, 2008 5:52 AM

[wolfgangmo]

Yes. Excellent post.

And better yet buy from local farmers. Here are links to CSA's and Farmers Markets all over the US. Get to know your farmer and spend your money with them directly. Know where your food comes from. CSA's - http://www.localharvest.org/csa/ . Farmers markets - http://www.localharvest.org/farmers-markets/ .

It tastes better and it is largely cheaper. I am a CSA member and I pay about $20 per week for a bushel of just picked organic veggies. Yum

[WASanford]

Ah, now I know I wasn't the only one who sat through that awful movie.
With the safety of our food supply unsure, our farm lands being destroyed by unconscionable farming methods, and our climate being changed by the shipping of food thousands of miles, isn't it time to consider buying our food locally. There are farmer's markets in just about every city in America where locally grown produce is available. The produce sold there is typically more expensive, but it is also better tasting and it is safe. You'll find no killer tomatoes there. And with inflation hitting our supermarkets, the difference in price will not seem all that much.
So join me at the local farmer's market.