So the FDA announced Thursday afternoon that it is OK to eat
tomatoes. The federal agency has lifted its warning because the
salmonella outbreak has slowed.
That's really funny, actually.
First of all, it seems that I've seen lots and lots of tomatoes
around, inside restaurants and filling shelves in my grocery stores.
No ban existed and it appears that the warning carried little weight.
Plus, news stories in recent weeks indicated that they doubted
tomatoes were at the root of the problem even as the salmonella
outbreak expanded.
But apparently our government follows human nature — in that once the
rash starts to go away, you can cancel that doctor's appointment.
It's great reinforcement to the 'wait til it goes away' approach to
caring for yourself, your people and your food industry.
Seriously, though, it is too bad that the regulation and monitoring
of our foods has taken such a back seat to everything else. And not
even sickness or death is changing this. That lack of outrage is the
most disappointing part of this story.