Can cooking tomatoes eliminate salmonella?
Consumers should not attempt to cook the tomatoes involved in this outbreak in an effort to kill salmonella. Handling tomatoes contaminated with salmonella can spread the bacterium to anything the handler touches, including hands, kitchen utensils, cutting boards, sinks, and other foods. Cooking tomatoes in the home will not ensure that salmonella is eliminated. Are canned tomatoes and processed foods containing tomatoes safe for consumers during this outbreak? Consumers may continue to buy and eat canned (that is, processed) red plum, red Roma, and red round tomatoes and canned or bottled foods containing these or other types of tomatoes if they were processed by a commercial food-processing facility. A few examples are the canned tomatoes and canned or bottled tomato juice and spaghetti sauce found in grocery stores. Are tomatoes from farmers’ markets included in this outbreak? Farmers’ markets get their tomatoes from a variety of sources that are not necessarily limited to local far
