You probably know this already because it’s been such a big deal in the news, but it looks like tomatoes are pretty much off the hook as far as the Salmonella problem is concerned.  My heart goes out to those tomato growers whose crops rotted away or were bulldozed altogether.  The tomato industry may lose up to $250 million from all of this.

One headline the other day read, “FDA finds salmonella strain in jalapeno pepper“.  It’s the same Salmonella bacteria that’s made 1,251 people sick with this outbreak over the past few months, but the government still doesn’t know the exact source, and they’re hoping to narrow down just exactly where the peppers came from.  Those Salmonella could have gotten into the food chain any number of ways, such as at the farm or the plant where they were processed.  The FDA is warning not to eat fresh jalapeno peppers or fresh salsa made from them.

            The government may be doing all they know how to solve this whole mess, but my husband, Survival Sam, still thinks there’s something funny going on.  He says the Salmonella outbreak could be some kind of bioterrorism attack.  I don’t know about that because there really are ways for Salmonella to get into tomato plants, but I agree with him when he says an attack on our food supply might produce the same results and keep the government chasing it all down for a long time.  Well, enough on all that.

            All of this brings up the point I’ve made before.  Wash those vegetables you bring home to eat.  You can’t be too careful these days with what you buy at the grocery store.  That’s one big reason so many people are buying from farmer’s markets and growing their own gardens.  I’m all for it!  Apparently all of the food safety precautions the government has in place aren’t enough, so be careful for the sake of your own survival.