I was about to run out to the store for some toma­toes, hop­ing to make my first batch of sum­mer gaz­pa­cho, when I remem­bered the sal­mo­nella out­break. I checked the FDA’s web­site for the sta­tus, and encoun­tered these photos:

The first thing that I noticed is that these look like per­fectly nor­mal toma­toes. Salmonella, a bac­terium, is invis­i­ble to the naked eye. So why is the FDA show­ing me absolutely use­less pic­tures of infected tomatoes?

The sec­ond thing I noticed is that the cap­tions seem to attribute blame -- and, there­fore, agency -- to the toma­toes them­selves, as though they actively con­spired to spread dis­ease among the human pop­u­la­tion. The images now look more like police lineup pho­tos, like some­thing on the FBI’s most wanted list: