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FDA declares all tomatoes safe to eat

WASHINGTON After warning consumers for weeks to forgo eating certain types of raw tomatoes, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave a clean bill of health Thursday to all varieties currently on the market, regardless of their origin.

The agency said it has not ruled out Roma, plum or red round tomatoes as a possible source of a salmonella outbreak that has now sickened 1,220 people. But officials said it was “highly unlikely” that any tomatoes connected with the contamination are still on the market.

Federal officials continued to recommend that people at risk of severe infection -- including infants, the elderly and those with weak immune systems -- avoid eating raw jalapeno and serrano peppers, which more recently have been implicated as possible sources of the rare salmonella strain. A team of FDA investigators is currently looking at a packing operation in Mexico that handles both jalapenos and serranos.

Federal officials also have said they were investigating fresh cilantro as a possible source, but no warnings have been issued about that product.

Nationwide, 224 victims of the outbreak have been hospitalized. Officials said the number of reported cases appeared to be slowing. However, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that the disease had recently appeared within small clusters of people who had eaten in restaurants.

Restaurants across the country stopped using the suspected varieties of tomatoes after federal officials issued a general warning about the produce as a possible source of the illness.

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