The Food and Drug Administration has updated a continuous recall of tomatoes distributed in three states to its most serious warning, claiming that there is a higher probability that potential contamination of salmonella can lead to “unfavorable health or death consequences”.
Consumers are unlikely that consumers meet fresh tomatoes from the batch, but bacteria can survive for weeks in dry and months in wet environments, such as the freezer, According to the FDA
The tomatoes, which were sold in plans as small as a three and large as 25 pound pack, were distributed between April 23 and 28 in Georgia, in North Carolina and South Carolina under the name H&C Farms.
They were first voluntarily recalled At the beginning of May for possible contamination by salmonella. No disease was reported at the time, according to the FDA
The recall was updated Wednesday to class I, which the FDA describes as “a situation in which there is a reasonable probability that the use or exposure to a violating product will result in serious unfavorable consequences for health or death.”
The potential source of contamination was not immediately known. Williams Farms Remack, the company based in South Carolina which distributed the tomatoes, did not immediately respond to a request for comments on Saturday. H&C Farms refused to comment on Saturday.
Exposure to salmonella, a bacteria, can be fatal, especially in adults over 65, children under the age of 5 and people with compromise immune systems, which have The highest risk serious illness.
But healthy people should also avoid eating tomatoes.
Exposure to Salmonella, generally from contaminated food, makes more than a million people in the United States each year and is responsible for Over 400 deaths annually.
The infection caused by salmonella can trigger symptoms, including fever, diarrhea and abdominal pain that can last days.
