Very Odd Indeed

[robin303]

http://health.yahoo.com/news/ap/med_..._tomatoes.html

[gardenpaws_VA]

I saw this, and my first thought was that it was a matter of hygiene in the fields. However, take a look at the links below - one concerns bacteria within the fruit, and the other has to do with the effect of pesticides in fostering bacterial growth.

aem.asm.org/cgi/reprint/11/1/7.pdf
http://www.mindfully.org/Pesticide/P...e-Bacteria.htm

[Vince]

Roma a large tomato?

[amideutch]

This is a excerpt from gardenpaws link.

"The researchers found that bacteria thrived in around a third of the pesticides, growing best in the fungicide chlorothalonil, the weedkiller linuron and the insecticides permethrin and chlorpyrifos. "Numbers could increase one-thousandfold," says Blank. Salmonella, E. coli and Shigella grew best, he says, particularly on chlorothalonil".

For those that don't know, chlorothalonil is the primary ingredient in Daconil. Ami

[feldon30]

This is turning out like the Andromeda Strain. Nuke it and it just gets bigger and smarter.

[duajones]

So using Daconil increases your chances of prolems?

[Ruth_10]

As with any food, use reasonable caution, but keep things in perspective. Think of all the tomatoes that have been grown over the years and how many people have eaten them without getting ill.

[gardenpaws_VA]

Originally Posted by Ruth_10

As with any food, use reasonable caution, but keep things in perspective. Think of all the tomatoes that have been grown over the years and how many people have eaten them without getting ill.

I'm not planning on quitting eating tomatoes, but it does make my homegrown ones look even better, as I tend to practice survival of the fittest in my garden. (Translation: too lazy to use pesticides, as well as not fond of the idea.)

I am somewhat concerned about the interaction of multiple factors - increased incidence of antibiotic-resistant pathogens, likelihood (IMHO increasing with increasing stress on water supplies and need for increased food) of contaminated water used for all purposes, and the fact that even "organic" produce is not exempt from the problem since the pyrethroids have been accepted by some organic growers. Right now, it's something to investigate (including finding more recent research) - down the road a ways it might be something on which to make a decision.

RobinD