Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Another food problem for Big Ag

Over in the USA there is another problem in the food chain. Salmonella has been found in tomatoes nationwide.

Little word that, nationwide.

The nation concerned is the USA, and while "wide" traditionally means from Atlantic to Pacific, in this particular context it also means from Mexico to Canada. Take a look at the map below, the green areas are the states affected

And there you have it. Salmonella has been found in tomatoes from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from Mexico to Canada.

The latest information I can find is that 17 states have been affected but, no doubt, as this is still breaking news, the count will go up.

Ian's note - 13th June 2008: I read today that the count is up to 24 States affected.

Interestingly, I found a lot of advice about what to do -don’t eat tomatoes! But I found no information about the outbreak itself.

Last year there was a similar scare in the USA over e-coli in Spinach.

Of course, here on this blog we have the answer! If you grow your own food then not only will it taste one thousand times better (data from KGiF’s conservative estimate) but you will also deprive Big Ag from another opportunity of putting profit before health and prevent them poisoning you.

For a more in depth rant about this I wholeheartedly recommend my friend ilex over on Homesteading in a Condo

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Your tomatoes look very rustic sitting on your shelve

cassie