As part of FDA's mission to prevent future foodborne outbreaks, extensive work is done on tomatoes to understand how bacteria, specifically Salmonella,are able to colonize and survive and to improve detection methods. Hundreds of FDA scientists are working to develop the tools needed to keep bacterial and chemical contaminants out of the food supply, and to rapidly identify the disease-causing bacteria that do infiltrate foods and cause outbreaks of foodborne illnesses. Among them are the researchers at FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN), in College Park, Md.

To learn about Team Tomato read this Consumer Update "FDA's Team Tomato Fights Contamination."

To learn more about how FDA is using genetic research to help ensure food safety read this Consumer Update: Whole Genome Sequencing Helps FDA Identify Dangerous Bacteria.

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