Consumers Urged to Avoid Certain Tomatoes Amid Salmonella Scare

An outbreak of E. coli bacteria in spinach in 2006 essentially destroyed the national spinach crop that year, Corbo said. "They put a blanket ban on consumption of spinach and, of course, it affected people who had nothing to do with it," he said.

By detailing which types of tomatoes from which regions are safe and not safe, officials seem to be trying to avoid what happened with the spinach outbreak, Corbo said.

But that means consumers will have to be vigilant, at least for a while. "People should be careful in terms of the plum and Roma and round tomatoes to make sure they're buying them from states and countries cleared by the FDA and CDC," Corbo said. "There is a lot of information to sift through."

More information

Visit the CDC for more on the current salmonella outbreak.