Stop raw tomatoes in canteens in Puglia due to salmonella outbreaks

Stop the consumption of fresh raw tomatoes in schools. This was decided by the Puglia Region, following the numerous salmonella outbreaks recorded in the regional territory and attributed to the administration of uncooked tomatoes. The Region has therefore asked all the Municipalities and all private and public operators in school, social-welfare, hospital and nursing home catering to replace the food with other cooked vegetables. The same request was addressed to all collective catering operators for vulnerable categories of the population. In addition to Puglia, cases have also been reported in Lombardy, Lazio and Friuli-Venezia Giulia. For this reason, a meeting of the National Task Force was held in recent days.

The increase in cases in Puglia

In the specific case of Puglia, the regional directive mentions an increase in cases of food-borne disease caused by Salmonella Strathcone St2559, as well as the increase in salmonellosis outbreaks documented in September and associated with the consumption of raw cherry tomatoes, as demonstrated by the epidemiological investigations of the regional Prevention Departments. The analyzes carried out so far have identified salmonella contamination in a batch of tomatoes from Caltanissetta.