What is Salmonella?

• Salmonella is a bacteria that lives in the intestinal tracts of humans and animals. It usually is transmitted to humans who eat food contaminated with animal feces.
  
  

What States Reported Cases?

• Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Oklahoma, Oregon, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin are states that reported cases of food poisoning from raw tomatoes. The outbreak spread to ultimately include 43 states, the District of Columbia and Canada.
  
  

What Were the Precautions Taken?

• Many U.S. restaurant and grocery chains pulled the raw tomatoes off their menus and shelves, respectively, during the multi-state salmonella food poisoning outbreak. Most of the cases were reported in April, May and June of 2008, ceasing by the end of the summer.
  
  

Determing Raw Tomatoes As the Culprit

• Looking at the food-history questionnaires completed by the earliest victims, investigators from the CDC determined that 86 percent of them had eaten certain types of raw tomatoes. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration then warned consumers to only eat the types of tomatoes thought to be safe, such as tomatoes grown at home and types of cherry and grape tomatoes.
  
  

How to Prevent Raw Food Poisoning

• Properly cooking meat, poultry and eggs and washing produce are generally the best methods to prevent the flu-like poisoning. Cooking tomatoes at 145 degrees will kill salmonella.