Rotten banana peppers, strange tomatoes

[bigemet]

Hey !

Today I went to Subway b4 class and ate a pizza sub, one of my favorites. Usually this doesn't happen but today the tomatoes smelt and tasted funny, not rotten but just tasted stronger than they do normally.

Then I suddenly noticed that a few of the banana peppers were actually rotten. I had eaten some of them without looking [img]smileys/smilies_06.gif[/img] I dumped the rest of the banana peppers and tomatoes, but ate the rest of the sandwich.

It's been 8 hours now, and about 20 mins ago I started gettin gas and diarrhea cramps higher up in my stomach instead of bowels.

What are the chances? [img]smileys/smilies_05.gif[/img]

[fish demon]

I'm sorry about this experience. I eat at Subway a lot and so far I haven't had any quality issues. What exactly was wrong with the peppers to make you think they were rotten? Did you see mold on them? Were they mushy?

I've accidentally eaten moldy bread before and not had any ill effects, but I'm not sure about mold on fruit. If you take a look on this page it says that you can still eat peppers once you remove the moldy parts. I've also had food poisoning a few times, and I just had diarrhea and abdominal cramps but did not ever v*.

Just hang in there, you'll get through this. [img]smileys/smilies_01.gif[/img]

[bigemet]

Thanks! The cramps have gotten better, still have gas :P

The peppers had some hard parts in the middle that looked yellowish with little black dots on them.

Hopefully im ok.. thanks!

[jkl81]

Probably not really rotten. Banana peppers come in a very strong vinegary juice that would be tough for any pathogenic organism to survive in, and I doubt they'd be rotten. Hard parts and black dots don't make me think they were very bad.

[fish demon]

Hmmm... Mold and bacteria tend to make rotting fruit softer rather than harder (because they are breaking it down), so now I'm inclined to think that the peppers weren't rotten at all. Especially since you didn't mention them tasting horrible, which is something you'd notice pretty quickly if they were moldy.

I can think of a couple explanations for the yellowish hard spots on the peppers. First, they could have just been damaged as they were growing... If they got scraped on the ground, that might leave a small amount of dirt on them and the scar tissue that formed made certain areas of the pepper hard.

Another explanation I can think of is that an insect laid its eggs in the pepper while it was growing, forming a gall-like structure. This is gross but completely harmless! Additionally, the dark things on the peppers could have been pieces of black pepper - I know sometimes when I am at Subway I have seen them put the pepper on people's sandwiches sloppily, getting pepper in the lettuce and tomatoes and stuff.

Whatever it is, the fact that the cramps have been getting better is definitely a good sign. I think you're going to be fine. [img]smileys/smilies_01.gif[/img]

Oh, I just read your post again and realized the hard areas were in the middle of the pepper... This is actually normal for them, to have differently-colored hard areas in the center. It's where the seeds grow from. Check out this picture: http://www.dkimages.com/discover/pre...859/933612.JPG

[SimplyMe]

I've had banana peppers that were hard and they were fine (can't remember if they had black spots or not) but I noticed they were hard because they'd sat out of their juice for a while, I'd bet thats all it was w/ yours. And like jk said they are kept in so much vinegar it'd be really hard for something nasty to grow on it. Hope you feel better soon!

[xheartsxoliviax]

How are you feeling?Im assuming you are ok and I hope that it won't put you off subway!

[bigemet]

Hey thank you all for your answers!!!

I'm good now, normal You know as an emet any little thing could cause anxiety hehe... I'll come definitely come back to Subway