Uh-Oh, now it's salmonella in Roma tomatoes

This afternoon as I was checking out of the Produce Station, my local produce store, the checker warned me about the Roma tomatoes I had selected. I switched for stem tomatoes -- more than twice the price -- now I know why. Good job, checker!!

I googled "Roma tomato recall 2008" when I got home. Evidently, in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Utah and Arizona, Roma tomatoes are being held responsible for an outbreak of the St. Paul strain of salmonella. The outbreak started in Texas in April, and is now more and more widespread. By web browsing I've discovered that at least 70 people have been diagnosed and at least 17 hospitalized.

I guess I ought to wait for local tomatoes to be in season. Stem tomatoes are evidently safe -- I suspect that's because they are hydroponic, and often come from Canada. The source of the contaminated tomatoes seems to remain unclear, as far as I can tell. And there have been no cases in Michigan -- yet. I'll watch the news now that I know about it. I've seen nothing in the sources I generally read.

See: Tomato Recall - State warns of salmonella outbreak involving uncooked tomatoes; recall likely and google for up to date news for yourself.

Update in answer to comment: there is no recall in Michigan, no outbreak in Michigan, and no clear idea of where the contamination has originated, which is why Produce Station is still selling the tomatoes. The checker evidently was just acknowledging what people had been asking, I guess. Avoiding the product seems prudent to me. I found this article from the Ann Arbor News: Ann Arbor Markets Respond ....