In my neck of the woods, we have an annual tomato festival. Hopefully, it won't be affected by this outbreak.

And fortunately, the outbreak apparently isn't from native Texas tomatoes. We are going to grow a crop next year. The climate and soil is ideal here for tomatoes, and they're even as good a Grainger County ones.

We run a fruit and vegetable stand near Atlanta, where close to 50% of our business is red, round tomatoes. We normally purchase these from the Atlanta Farmer's Market, but they have stopped selling all tomatoes.
If anyone has GOOD, TASTY tomatoes for sale, I would be willing to travel to buy some, in quantity. I'm speaking of around 200 pounds or up, depending on distance. please reply ASAP to,
Becky

A global point of view on the tomato crisis from the LA Times.

The supply chain that ships foods to far-flung consumers is also good at spreading disease.
...
The notion that a globalized produce market will provide us with Chilean grapes in December and New Zealand plums in January is now taken as a given. And Americans' assumption that industrially organized production and transportation renders the seasons irrelevant is true -- but only up to a point.

For one thing, tomatoes and tree fruit grown and shipped in this fashion seldom come even remotely close to tasting the way a tomato or a peach is supposed to taste. More important for the purposes of this discussion, the same marvel of efficiency that makes it possible to pick a tomato in Guatemala and sell it fresh in a market in Bangor, Maine, a few days later creates a system that's just as good at distributing disease as it is produce. When one packer's tainted produce goes to three or four countries, what would have been a local problem becomes an international one.

"Cilantro, jalapeno peppers and Serrano peppers" are now being scrutinized for salmonella. Does this mean we can't eat fresh salsa? We're in trouble now.

Government inspectors finally have a big clue in the nationwide salmonella outbreak: They found the same bacteria strain on a single Mexican-grown jalapeno pepper handled in Texas — and issued a stronger warning for consumers to avoid fresh jalapenos.

Ok by me. I don't care for jalapenos.

A couple of years ago a friend prepared this Emeril Legasse recipe for Andouille Stuffed Jalapeños at a little neighborhood get-together.

One bite is all it takes to make a convert.

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