How salmonella affects consumers

Health officials list more foods as salmonella risks.

What happened

Over 1,000 people have now fallen ill due to the tomato-related salmonella outbreak, which began in April. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control have added hot peppers and cilantro to the list of risky foods. Dr. Robert Tauxe of the CDC said, "This is the largest foodborne outbreak in the United States." (The Washington Post)

What the commentators said

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

"Seven weeks into their investigation, federal health officials aren’t shortening the list of potential culprits but adding to it," said Lauren Neergaard on the Daily Journal Online. How frustrating—and not just for consumers. This must be negatively impacting tomato, cilantro, and jalapeno pepper producers.

So "if you had salmonella poisoning, would you know?" said Elizabeth Landau on CNN. Salmonella and E. coli actually have similar symptoms: "diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, and sometimes a low-grade fever." If you have any of these symptoms and they become extreme, you should seek medical attention.

The symptoms of salmonella usually go away within a week, said the BBC. But those "most at risk of developing severe illness are the elderly, infants and people with weakened immune systems"—these are the people who should be especially careful.

This isn't the first tomato-related salmonella outbreak, but hopefully it's the last, said Michelle Fabio on the tomato blog Tomato Casual. Researchers at Ontario’s University of Guelph are working on a vaccine for tomato plants that would prevent the growth of salmonella. For the sake of salsa lovers and the 1,000 already sick, we wish them luck!

To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us