All of the McDonald's restaurants have stopped serving sliced tomatoes in all of its locations after various customers got sick in 16 different states in what might be an outbreak of salmonella poisoning. 23 people have gotten sick so far, so McDonald's doesn't want to take any chances.
Odd how all of this talk about the fast food industry and eating meat and all that, and what is making people sick is tomatoes. The chain says that they'll still keep serving grape tomatoes, but they aren't serving sliced tomatoes until further notice.
Update: the problem is even more widespread than we thought.
6-09-2008 @9:06PM christopher said... What mcdonalds serves are hardly tomatoes IMO. Tomatoes aren't meant to travel thousands of miles. The contaminations are due to the industrial way most food is processed and distributed in this country and will continue to be a problem in meats and vegetables as long as we do this. Additionally the supply chain ensures that contaminated food is widely distributed. I'm only complaining about the problem, not offering a solution. :-(
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6-09-2008 @6:08PM Sofia said... Usually vegetables get contaminated with salmonella as a result of being exposed to infected meat and/or animal waste during packing and storage.
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6-09-2008 @6:39PM Barb said... McDonald's doesn't want to take any *precautions*? Really?
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6-09-2008 @9:03PM Red Icculus said... Sofia hit the head on the nail when saying "Usually vegetables get contaminated with salmonella as a result of being exposed to infected meat and/or animal waste during packing and storage."
One possible vector of contamination is with using organic or animal waste as fertilizer for plants.
Either way, McDonalds doesn't control their supply chain tight enough to ensure the safety of the consumer.
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6-09-2008 @9:08PM christopher said... whoops, forgot to confirm the comment. ditto Sofia.
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6-09-2008 @9:40PM lizandrsn said... All the C.D.C. says is that the contamination is topical. What happens when wastes get into the water system? Wouldn't that cause grief, too?
Burger King didn't serve any tomatoes on burgers this weekend, locally. Our Souper Salad had none on the Bar, either. Too bad the Customers can't read the notices, but sure can complain.
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6-10-2008 @2:36AM Matthew said... Actually this isn't just a McDonald's precaution. It's an FDA ruling that round red tomatoes are unsafe for consumption. All restaurants (Subway, Burger King, etc) have stopped serving tomatoes across North America. See FDA website for more details on how you can be safe at home: http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/tomatoes.html
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6-10-2008 @2:11PM alphaeden said... Mickey D's isn't the only one, Cracker Barrel started this last week also.
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7-23-2008 @9:06AM Eric said... The Salmonella in Tomatos might be comeing from the Fish Genes that have been geneticaly fused with Tomatos...
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