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McDonald's Holds the Tomatoes, Fearing Salmonella

Fast-food giant McDonald's says it has stopped serving sliced tomatoes in all of its sandwiches in the United States over fears of salmonella poisoning. The company said the precaution will remain in place until the source of a recent Salmonella outbreak is found.

McDonald's Corp., Wal-Mart and some other restaurant and grocery store chains will stop selling some types of tomatoes while U.S. health officials try to find the source of the outbreak, which has sickened at least 145 people.

The FDA issued an expanded warning Saturday, saying raw red Roma, red plum and red round tomatoes have been linked to an outbreak of Salmonella serotype Saintpaul, an uncommon type of Salmonella food poisoning. The first warning went out on June 3.

Michele Norris talks to Dr. Patricia M. Griffin, chief of the Enteric Diseases Epidemiology Branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Griffin discusses what is known so far about the outbreak associated with tomatoes and whether — or not — suspected tomatoes can be cooked and safely eaten.

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