US Salmonella Update: FDA callsTexas-grown tomatoes 'Safe to eat'

In the latest twist to the continuing salmonella saga, the Federal health officials said Friday that tomatoes linked to a Salmonella outbreak in nine U.S. states were not grown in Texas.

Despite the rapid surge in Texas cases of tomato-linked salmonella, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared tomatoes grown in Texas as the source of a salmonella outbreak, saying the tomatoes appear to be safe to eat.

According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, the number of confirmed cases tied to the Saintpaul strain of salmonella linked to tomatoes rose to 56 in Texas on Friday, up from 35 on Wednesday. A total of 48 cases have been confirmed in New Mexico.

FDA on Friday has eliminated the Texas as a possible source of the tainted tomatoes, saying that the tomatoes grown in the State have not been linked to the recent outbreak of salmonella, which have caused several people in Texas and New Mexico to become sick and more than 19 people to go to the hospital.

The federal agency, on its Website, issued a notice stating that retailers, restaurants and food service operators in New Mexico and Texas sell only fresh and fresh cut red Roma, red plum, and round red tomatoes that are grown in five states- Texas, California, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, as well as those imported from six foreign countries- Belgium, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Israel, the Netherlands, and Puerto Rico.

An outbreak of Salmonella food poisoning hit the United States in late April. Since then, SaintPaul, an uncommon type of Salmonella bacteria, has infected several people in nine U.S. states, including Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas and Utah. No deaths have been reported so far in any states affected by the tainted tomatoes.

FDA said preliminary investigations suggest that red Roma, raw red plum or round red tomatoes are the source of the salmonella outbreak that continues to strike a growing number of Texas and New Mexico residents.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), early this week, linked the Roma and other large-sized tomatoes to the potentially deadly salmonella poisoning. The agency has warned consumers to avoid eating raw tomatoes in order to lower their risk of salmonella infection.

Following CDC’s warning, San Antonio-based H.E. Butt Grocery Co. and Austin-based Whole Foods Market, the two leading supermarket chains, removed all lots of fresh tomatoes from their produce shelves as a safety precaution.

Salmonella is a kind of rod-shaped Gram-negative enterobacteria that causes typhoid fever, paratyphoid fever and food-borne illnesses like bloody diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. The bacteria can enter the human system through contaminated water or food such as meat or poultry, and eggs with cracked shells, and can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, weak or aged people, and others with deteriorated immune systems. The illness can prove fatal for people in poor health or with weakened immune systems.

It can attack in as little time as 6 to 7 hours or take as long as 3 days, and the illness lasts four to seven days. Most people recover without treatment.

There are nearly 2,500 kinds of salmonella, which are found in a disparate variety of environments and which are associated with many different diseases. The type in the recent outbreak was salmonella SaintPaul, which is an uncommon bacterium. Salmonella outbreaks take place in tomatoes periodically. A 2004 outbreak that sickened more than 400 people was linked to tomatoes sold in Sheetz convenience stores.