Public Health Scene

Sharon Farsht Torodor sent in the following question regarding the June 19 Public Health Scene on Tomatoes and Salmonella that featured Craig Hedberg.

Hello:

I've been wondering -- should we be concerned about tomatoes we're growing in our own yards or that we buy from a local farm? How can we know they are safe? It would be great to see that addressed in one of these messages. By the way, I really like and appreciate these PH Scene messages!

Sharon

Hedberg responds:

Sharon,

Thank you for your question. As this outbreak reminds us, growing fresh fruits and vegetables in a natural environment means that there are possibilities for contamination to occur. We need to be mindful of this and take reasonable steps to make eating these fresh produce items both healthy and enjoyable.

Fresh produce is grown in dirt. We want to wash our hands and wash our produce under running water to remove any dirt that may be present. We want to be sure that knives and cutting boards are cleaned and sanitized to prevent cross-contamination from raw meat or poultry. Finally, we want to serve cut produce items promptly, or refrigerate them, to prevent the growth of potentially harmful bacteria.

We don't have any particular reason to be concerned about home-grown or locally produced tomatoes, and they are certainly not part of the nationwide outbreak of Salmonella infections that has been going on. But we do need to realize that all fresh produce is grown in environments that may contain potentially harmful bacteria from time to time. We all share responsibility for keeping the food we eat safe.

The Healthy Foods Healthy Lives Institute at the University of Minnesota has funded a multidisciplinary research and outreach project to work with local producers on produce safety and Good Agricultural Practices. This project is headed up by Dr. Francisco Diez, from the College of Food, Agriculture and Nutrition with collaborators from the School of Public Health and the College of Veterinary Medicine.

We anticipate that this study will help us better understand potential threats to locally grown produce, and how to prevent them.

Thanks,

Craig Hedberg

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