Tainted Tomatoes: Alternatives To Turn To

The salmonella outbreak has forced tomatoes off most menus for now.

But there are things we can eat instead that offer similar nutritional value and texture, and there are some types of tomatoes, from certain areas, the Food and Drug Administration says it still considers safe to consume.

On The Early Show Wednesday, registered dietician Bonnie Taub-Dix, a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association, explained what we could eat in place of tomatoes, and which ones are still thought to be safe to eat.

The FDA says, basically, that safe ones include cherry and grape tomatoes and those that are on the vine or home-grown. The agency also spells out states whose harvests are probably unaffected.

To go to the American Dietetic Association's Home Food Safety page, click here.

Tomatoes are a great source of vitamin C, but so are bell peppers and citrus fruits. If you're holding off on adding tomatoes to your salad tonight, try adding some crunchy, juicy red, yellow, and orange bell peppers to your salad for a refreshing, healthy blend of color, flavor and nutrients. Taub-Dix also loves putting citrus in salads, such as mandarin oranges and pink grapefruit, which not only have that Vitamin C, but are sweet, so kids will still eat their salad!

Lycopene
This compound found in tomatoes is widely touted as a protector against cancer, particularly prostate cancer. Lycopene is found in several reddish fruits and veggies, including red and pink grapefruit, guava, and watermelon. But tomatoes provide by far the majority of the lycopene in the diets of most Americans, and studies evaluating lycopene consumption almost always involve tomatoes.

Other Tomato Products

It's also important to remember that other rich sources of lycopene include tomato products such as tomato sauce, tomato juice, and tomato ketchup. In fact, when tomatoes are processed into such products, lycopene levels actually increase, making them HEALTHIER than raw tomatoes!