Yesterday, federal health officials announced their plan to thoroughly investigate a series of tomato farms and vegetable storage and packing units located in Florida and Mexico, in order to get to the bottom of the serious salmonella situation that affected no less than 552 people in 32 states.

Within the U.S. Food and Drug Administration statement, it was said that additional information was found regarding the tomatoes’ route, thus causing the investigation to take a new turn.

"Now we know the path those tomatoes have travelled, we're looking all along those pathways," David Acheson said.

According to Centers for Disease Control, most of the infected people develop diarrhoea, fever and abdominal cramps within 12 to 72 hours, the illness lasts four to seven days and in case of a severe infection, salmonella may spread from the intestines to the bloodstream and to other body sites and can sometimes cause death.

Bearing all this in mind, it is quite surprising that some people choose not to go to hospitals and to handle things on their own.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advise consumers to thoroughly wash all tomatoes under running water, refrigerate cut, peeled, or cooked tomatoes within two hours, or discard them, keep tomatoes that will be eaten raw separate from raw meats, raw seafood, or other raw products, avoid buying bruised or damaged tomatoes, and discard any that look spoiled.

People with weakened immune systems, pregnant women and infants should stay away from tomatoes tied to the outbreak.