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01 July 2008
HA! My husband just called...on the way to work he was listening to the news...guess what he heard might be the salmonella culprit instead of tomatoes??→[More:]
And in a related story, penises are now found to be the cause of cancer, and bunnies have been responsible for the recent Al Qaeda troop movements in Iran.
Great. So all that tomato-less pico de gallo I scarfed down during the scare was not only less delicious, but also just as dangerous. I think I'll switch to that all sunlight diet from now on.
Though I would be thrilled if the country had to go cilantro-free for a while. The longer, the better. I could eat Mexican food, which I once loved, again!
danf: the article you link only states that a compound found in cilantro, when purified, kills salmonella. Not that a) it's sufficiently concentrated in cilantro to kill salmonella, nor b) it exists in all locations on the plant (e.g., if it's entirely internal, salmonella may still survive on the outside).
I was just reading an article at Junkfood Science that basically said they had pretty much no evidence it ever was tomatoes, and that half the healthcare workers had thought it might be lettuce.
I don't know if there are public health types around who have more info, but I thought her explanation of how these things are traced was interesting.
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