The question, inevitably, has already arrived from school canteens to home kitchens: can we eat the cherry tomatoes we bought or not? The Salmonella alert that started from Puglia, where the suspension of fresh raw tomatoes in the canteens of nurseries, schools, hospitals, nursing homes and facilities that care for vulnerable people was ordered as a precaution, spread rapidly because the reported outbreaks do not only concern one region and because, almost at the same time, a batch of Sicilian cherry tomatoes was recalled from the market due to the presence of the bacterium.
We are not faced, it should be clarified immediately, with a general ban on the sale or consumption of fresh tomatoes in Italy. The measure adopted in Puglia concerns collective catering and arises from the precautionary principle, in particular to protect children, the elderly, the sick and the most vulnerable people. But the epidemiological investigations have turned the spotlight on a situation that deserves attention: the national Task Force meeting on 30 September examined numerous outbreaks recorded in Puglia, Lombardy, Lazio and Friuli-Venezia Giulia and associated with the consumption of fresh tomatoes, especially cherry tomatoes consumed raw.
What’s happening with the cherry tomatoes
The Puglia Region has requested the “temporary and immediate” suspension of the administration of fresh raw tomatoes in school, social-welfare and hospital catering, replacing them with cooked vegetables. The basis of the measure is the increase in cases of salmonellosis, with particular attention to Salmonella Strathcona ST2559and the presence of outbreaks recorded in September and epidemiologically linked to the consumption of fresh tomatoes.
The analyzes also identified Salmonella in a batch of tomatoes from the province of Caltanissetta. In the same days the Ministry of Health published the recall of a batch of G&V Ortaggi brand cherry tomatoesproduced in Gela, due to the «presence of Salmonella spp». The affected lot is number 210marketed in boxes of approximately 6.5 kilograms.
An important detail, however, prevents us from making too rapid equivalences: it has not been officially clarified whether the recalled batch is exactly the same as the one indicated in the epidemiological investigations conducted in Puglia, nor where the product was distributed in its entirety. The recall must therefore be treated as precise information relating to that batch, while the outbreak investigation has a broader scope.
The strain that has been circulating in Europe for years
What makes the story more relevant is above all the name of the strain identified. In fact, Salmonella Strathcona ST2559 does not appear for the first time in 2026.
In October 2025, ECDC, together with EFSA, had already reconstructed a prolonged epidemic which between January 2023 and September 2025 had caused 437 confirmed cases in 17 countries of the European Union and the European Economic Area. Italy, with 123 cases, was among the most affected countries together with Germany and Austria. Cases had also been recorded in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States.
The common denominator identified in various investigations was the small tomatoes from Sicily. The same strain had been linked to Sicilian tomatoes during outbreaks that occurred in Austria in 2023 and 2025, in Italy in 2024 and even in Denmark in 2011. During the investigations, Salmonella Strathcona was also detected in a sample of irrigation water collected from a Sicilian producer, an element that had pushed the European authorities to ask for more in-depth checks already in the pre-harvest phase.
And it is precisely this detail that explains why the answer to the simplest question – “is it enough to wash cherry tomatoes?” — is less reassuring than you might think.
Is it enough to wash the cherry tomatoes?
Washing them well is necessary, but cannot be considered an absolute guarantee against Salmonella.
Washing under running water can reduce contamination on the surface of the vegetable and is one of the normal food safety rules. But in the case of fruit and vegetables, contamination can occur at different points in the supply chain, from irrigation to harvesting and handling, and in some circumstances the bacteria can penetrate through small lesions or natural openings in the plant. Simple rinsing, therefore, is not equivalent to sterilization.
This doesn’t mean you should stop eating raw tomatoes. For products not affected by recalls, normal precautions remain valid: choose intact and undamaged tomatoes, wash them carefully before consumption, clean hands, knives, cutting boards and surfaces and avoid cross-contamination with meat or other raw foods.
The situation changes completely in the case of a product expressly recalled. If you have cherry tomatoes belonging to lot 210 G&V Vegetables subject to the alert, you should not rely on simple washing to make them safe: the rule for a product recalled due to microbiological risk is not to consume it and follow the recall instructions.
And cook them?
Salmonella is sensitive to high temperatures and cooking represents one of the fundamental tools for preventing foodborne infections. It is no coincidence that the Puglia Region, by suspending fresh tomatoes in canteens, has foreseen the possibility of replacing them with other cooked vegetables.
But here too a distinction must be made. Cooking food correctly reduces the microbiological risk; however, it is not a reason to ignore an official recall. If a batch has been recalled because it was contaminated, the most prudent course is not to consume it.
For all other tomatoes, however, there is currently no national indication that requires them to give up raw consumption. Those belonging to the most fragile categories – very young children, elderly people, immunosuppressed people or those with conditions that increase the risk of complications – can adopt greater caution at this stage and favor cooked foods, especially in the areas affected by the investigations.
What are the symptoms of Salmonella
Salmonellosis is a gastrointestinal infection that can present with diarrhoea, fever, cramps and abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting. According to the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, symptoms can appear between 6 and 72 hours after ingesting the contaminated food, more frequently between 12 and 36 hours, and in most cases last from four to seven days.
In most people the infection resolves without serious consequences, but the more severe forms can especially affect children, the elderly and people with a compromised immune system and, in some cases, require hospitalization. Another difficulty is that a food contaminated with Salmonella can appear completely normal: colour, smell, taste and consistency do not allow us to understand whether the bacterium is present.
What to check at home
For those who have bought cherry tomatoes in the last few days, the first check to do is therefore: brand and lotwithout automatically extending the alert to any tomato on the market. The published recall concerns cherry tomatoes G&V Vegetables, lot 210produced in Gela and distributed in boxes of approximately 6.5 kilos.
For all other products, normal hygiene measures apply and, above all, any new updates from the health authorities. However, the Apulian alert demonstrates why an apparently harmless vegetable can become a vehicle of infection and why, in the case of Salmonella, tap water is important but cannot be considered an absolute shield: washing reduces the risk, cooking reduces it much more, while an officially recalled product must not be consumed.
