Supermarkets also pulled from shelves tomato varieties that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) suspect as tainted with the uncommon salmonella strain called Saintpaul and probably caused the salmonellosis outbreak in 16 states that has hospitalized 23 people since April 16.
Aside from McDonald's, Subway, Burger King and Chipotle announced they have stopped serving sliced raw tomatoes in their outlets nationwide. Burger King restaurants in Canada, Puerto Rico and the Caribbean are also banning sliced raw tomatoes on their products.
Grocery stores Giant, Safeway, Kroger and Publix limited their stocks to cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, tomatoes on the vine and tomatoes the FDA consider as safe and not coming from states that reported salmonellosis outbreaks.
The FDA has advised against using raw red Roma, red plum and red round tomatoes, though the agency has yet to finish its investigation to pinpoint the source of salmonella-tainted tomatoes and the origin of the contamination.
