It’s not great but it certainly takes the stickiness out. I keep it at about 76 - 78 F.

The smell of fish and fish processing was everywhere - including the noxious ‘pogey oil’ as they used to call it there, a byproduct of processing at the fish factory.

It certainly didn’t put me off fish or seafood but it was definitely pervasive and bore no relation to the food on our plates.

It’s OK, you can eat them anyway you like :>)

In fact, I can’t even contemplate a cooked tomato without feeling a little ill. Two reasons:

1) Sacramento is known as “The Big Tomato” or “Sacratomato,” but I doubt few new residents or younger residents know why. I do. Sacramento used to be the center of the universe in terms of tomato processing (Sacramento tomato juice, anyone?) and in the days before air conditioning (yes, I AM that old), at the end of the summer the whole city would smell like simmering tomatoes. And in the 110 degree heat, you’d feel like a simmering tomato yourself.

2) At Sacred Heart elementary school, they served tomato soup all the frickin’ time. (I think they got cases donated by the cannery.) Since “little children were starving in [insert country here],” the nuns required us to suck down every last drop of whatever we were served at school lunches. If we didn’t, it was ruler and hell time.

Because of these experiences, if it were proven that cooked tomatoes cured everything that ails us … well, I’d choose to die.

The exception: Tomato-based pasta sauces, which really smell like oregano, basil, etc., and so are A-OK. Especially With cheese.

I think what you are describing is the result of “gassing” the tomatoes to make them appear red & ripe.

It is common. It is disgusting. It removes the taste.

That said, there’s nothing like a big, warm, flavourful old-fashioned variety of tomato right off the plant. I can’t wait, mine are growing like crazy in this heat.

I get how the e. coli thing happens. Unsanitary processing procedures for meats. With the veggies, some places use raw sewage on their fields, such as Mexico and China. Having driven by the farms around Salinas many times, I can guess at how it gets on vegetables grown in CA - the fields are huge and I don’t see any washrooms. It could also be from other animals foraging in the fields.

The salmonella is interesting, I’ll follow the link for more info on that, since it’s usually an animal-based bacteria - fish, eggs, birds.

Back to my favourite fruits, tomatoes. I’ve bought some out of season and they are very odd. They don’t get soft, they don’t rot. As a test, I kept some on my kitchen counter for two months and they looked the same as the day I bought them. No thanks, I’ll stick to tomatoes in season and canned tomatoes in the winter - which I love.

Thanks for a great post. It’s really time for our governments to get back to what they are hired to do - maintain the infrastructure, defend our borders, adminster and develop social services programs and monitor food and drug safety. I can’t think of much else that we need them for.

I love how they add this in at the end as an editorial note, as if it’s A-OK:
“…because dry pet food has a 1-year shelf life and all contaminated products were not recalled, contaminated dry pet food might still be found in homes and could provide the potential for causing illness.”

Then, read closely what WASN’T recalled:

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/previe.....5719a4.htm

“A voluntary recall of specific-sized bags of two brands of dry dog food issued by the manufacturer in August 2007 was based only on lot-specific testing of finished unopened bags found to be positive for Salmonella by official FDA testing. Other sizes of bags of the two brands of dry dog food, although produced at plant A, were not recalled. Other brands of dry dog or cat food produced at plant A, including brands associated epidemiologically and microbiologically with illness, also were not included in the recall. “

So they recalled the relatively unknown “lesser” brands? What gives with “other sizes” not recalled?

I’m clearly beside myself….what other brands were produced at plant A made pets/people sick and were not recalled?

This is a complete pile of dung.. the FDA, the pet food companies and Mars for not doing the right, safe, thing in their “voluntary” recall or non-recall.

Cwap.. “…based only on lot-specific testing of finished unopened bags found to be positive for Salmonella by official FDA testing”

Meaning if the FDA misses it, they won’t recall it even if they know it is making a pet/person sick?

I’m off the charts!!! This is a total indictment of the VSIP, AAFCO PFI FDA insanity!!

Safe pet foods? Not the way all of these are acting.
It’s all an illusion including AFSS and FDAAA…
Acheson needs to be fired & Andrew Von Eschenbach needs to be fired!!
AAFCO needs to be disbanded and held accountable for the VSIP program

Food Safety? What is that? Protecting consumers - humans or companion animals? What is that?