Rabid tomato sauce

September 2, 2015 3:35 PM

Something has been taking bites out of my tomatoes... probably squirrels or birds. I washed them, generously cut off the affected area, and cooked the sauce for 30 minutes. Am I about to poison my husband and teens?
posted by LittleMy to Food & Drink (14 answers total)

No.
posted by Bruce H. at 3:38 PM on September 2, 2015 [7 favorites]

Best answer: No, this is incredibly low risk. I would happily eat such tomatoes with a cursory wash and removal of the only the clearly affected area.

I'm not sure if you are being serious about rabies, but the rabies virus is definitely killed by cooking for 30 minutes, not to mention that birds don't get rabies and squirrels very rarely get rabies and have not been known to pass it on to humans.
posted by ssg at 3:50 PM on September 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

No problem and it is probably groundhogs taking bites out of the tomatoes. They do not like tomatoes but never remember that and keep trying them and leaving them bitten. You will notice they never actually eat a whole tomato.
posted by mermayd at 4:21 PM on September 2, 2015 [13 favorites]

Enjoy your sauce anxiety-free.
posted by infinitewindow at 5:52 PM on September 2, 2015

I would eat it. I mean, we don't even know what's touched/licked/peed on our intact fruit and vegetables.

Unless you think poisonous snakes have been at them - and I'll see myself and my horrible nightmares out now - you're fine.
posted by Lyn Never at 6:40 PM on September 2, 2015 [2 favorites]

Agree it's groundhogs. I don't think groundhog spit is a carcinogen. I'd eat them (I have eaten them). It's so infuriating.
posted by Miko at 6:44 PM on September 2, 2015

Birds are not the typical carrier of the rabies virus and I don't think there's yet been a recorded case of bird-to-human transmission, but I'd just like to correct the notion that they don't ever carry it as raptors can. This is not a tomato-related problem, though.
posted by vegartanipla at 7:05 PM on September 2, 2015

Best answer: I agree on minimal to no risk. I do it all the time with tomatoes from our garden. Motherfucking birds and squirrels (or maybe raccoons - we're too urban for groundhogs).
posted by exogenous at 7:06 PM on September 2, 2015

Best answer: I ate one such tomato yesterday and another two days before, and I remain alive and well. It actually didn't even occur to me to worry about it.
posted by telepanda at 8:13 PM on September 2, 2015

Venomous snakes would eat the groundhogs that ate the tomatoes but wouldn't touch a plant if you literally shoved it into their faces.

Maybe it's time to buy herbivore repellent? If you long for perfect tomatoes, anyhow.
posted by Nyx at 10:01 PM on September 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Around here, it's squirrels that do this, not because they like tomatoes, but because they want the water. Eat the tomatoes, and try setting out a dish of fresh water for the squirrels. Not joking.
posted by jferg at 5:26 AM on September 3, 2015 [3 favorites]

Managed to type out a whole paragraph before I realized jferg said what I was going to. Squirrels. Dish of water or birdbath can help.
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 9:13 AM on September 3, 2015

Response by poster: Thank you, everyone.

Tomato sauce was eaten and enjoyed by all.
posted by LittleMy at 9:29 AM on September 3, 2015 [1 favorite]

I have a pond and the damned squirrels eat my tomatoes anyway.
posted by caryatid at 4:33 PM on September 3, 2015