If you’ve been shopping this week you might have noticed a big hole where the tomatoes should be, or perhaps any eatery you’ve been in has had signs up stating they’re only serving cherry tomatoes and citing the FDA warning. While they work on figuring out exactly where the problem originated so they can tell you what is safe to eat from your local supermarket, you might want to try your farmer’s market.
Your farmer’s market tomatoes were never included in this interdiction because they’re not part of the same ‘system’ as what the grocery stocks, and therefor there’s no way they came from the same currently unknown source that has shipped out salmonella-laced tomatoes. Whether or not they’re immune to the problem in general is a matter for some debate, and you might read this posting here at the excellently written and disquietingly-named BarfBlog. Professor Powell takes the scientific view that there’s no evidence that sustainable and local is any safer, but observes that at least with the farmer’s market you may have the opportunity to ask directly about production methods.
He’s welcome to his opinion, but I personally will always feel more confident overall in produce and meat that comes out of a family-style farm using traditional practices than what comes from ‘industrial’ food.
On a side note about the tomato outbreak, this recent crop (sorry) of tomato safety issues comes as no surprise at all, and the eastern shore of Virgina has been implicated before.
Picture courtesy of AHMED.
This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs
Well I used to say something in my profile about not quite being a “tinker, tailor, soldier, or spy” but Tom stole that for our about us page, so I guess I’ll have to find another way to express that I am a man of many interests.
Hmm, guess I just did.
My tastes run the gamut from sophomoric to Shakespeare and in my “professional” life I’ve sold things, served beer, written software, and carried heavy objects… sometimes at the same place. It’s that range of loves and activities that makes it so easy for me to love DC – we’ve got it all.
