Now that over 500 people [1] across the country have become sick from tomatoes contaminated with salmonella [2], I'm sure you're all wondering how you can protect yourself from getting sick, so keep these tips in mind:

• When purchasing food, it should look and smell fresh. Anything that's bruised, damaged [3], discolored, or has a different consistency should be avoided.
• With this tomato problem, it's best to avoid any prepared foods that contain raw tomatoes such as salsa, salads, and guacamole since it's difficult to know for sure if the tomatoes are safe.
• Before handling any food, plates, cutting boards, or utensils, always wash your hands.
• Thoroughly wash all produce (even ones that you peel [4]), under running water.
• Keep raw meats away from your fresh produce. Use separate cutting boards and utensils when preparing the two. If that's not possible, always wash utensils and cutting surfaces with hot water and soap before moving on to a new type of food. Of course, always wash your hands after handling uncooked meat.

If you want to know what else you can do then .

• Refrigerate all cut, peeled, or cooked food within two hours. If any type of perishable food has been left out for longer than two hours, throw it away. If it's really hot out (over 90° F), then one hour is the limit. If you're not sure, don't eat it; it's not worth the risk.
• Don't eat raw eggs or foods that may contain them such as cookie dough.
• If a person has salmonella poisoning [5], they should not be touching food or anything involving food being served to other people, until the illness has cleared up.

Source [6]