Bad tomatoes? Maybe just bad hygiene

Federal officials are still tracking the source of the bacterial outbreak, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says is linked to a rare strain called salmonella saintpaul. Just three varieties-- red plum, red Roma, and round red tomatoes-- are thought to have caused the illnesses.
Federal authorities cleared fresh tomatoes being harvested in Florida and all those grown in California-- the nation's top two tomato-producing states-- of responsibility in the national food poisoning scare.
Federal officials say cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, tomatoes sold with the vine still attached, and homegrown tomatoes are likely not the source of the outbreak.
Also not associated with the salmonella outbreak are raw red Roma, red plum, and round red tomatoes from Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Belgium, Canada, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Israel, the Netherlands, and Puerto Rico.

From the USDA website on salmonella: "Food may also become contaminated by the unwashed hands of an infected food handler."
Anyone who's seen the news video of crews sorting tomatoes by hand might wonder if there's adequate sanitary facilities in those fields...

Rico says the likelihood of there being hand sanitizing equipment, or even porta-potties, in the tomato fields is low enough that he's not going to be eating a lot of tomatoes for awhile...