OK, so there’s a bit of a tomato scare going on across the country, due to a recent outbreak of salmonella poisoning:

The nationwide outbreak, caused by a relatively unusual bacterium called salmonella Saintpaul, has sickened at least 167 people. Twenty-three of those have been hospitalized.

But the source of the outbreak remains a mystery, and the complex nature of the advisory has created a great deal of uncertainty.

So far, tomatoes from California have not been implicated in any illnesses, but many local stores aren’t taking any chances. Grocery stores? Restaurants? … what if you want a fresh tomato on a sandwich right now!?

Quizno’s stores across Willow Glen have removed all fresh tomatoes from their counters.

Staff at the Subway Sandwich Shop at Meridian & Hamilton do not have tomatoes, and insist that other Subways don’t either. But staff answering the phone on Lincoln Avenue say they are offering tomatoes; the store on Bird Avenue (@ San Carlos) says that most Subways have had their tomatoes cleared through their local distributer.

The tomatoes at Mojo Burger (Bird & Minnesota) apparently have … um, good mojo … They’ve got lots of sliced tomatoes that you put on your gourmet hamburger.

But the aptly-named Tomato Thyme restaurants — still reeling from a recent fire at their Santa Teresa location — are not serving tomatoes tonight, either. But the chef hopes they’ll be back on the menu by the weekend. Maybe you can grab some of your own next door at Safeway, where plenty of hothouse and vine-ripened tomatoes were available earlier today.

All three of the Aqui Cal Mex restaurants have altered their menus to use only cooked tomatoes, avoiding the fruit (vegetable?) in their signature fresh dishes.

And you can forget Mio Vicino Aristo, too … they’re closed completely.

So, is it safe to eat tomatoes in WG? Just like we survived the Jamba Hep-A Boost health menace, there’s definitely some optimism.

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