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Food Insecurity - National Tomato Recall

Another month and yet another food recall. Over the past few years high profile food recalls have seemingly become the norm. These national or regional recalls, whether it's beef, toys from china, spinach, tomatoes, or peanut butter, is a failure of our food and trade agencies. They have failed to do their job and these failures are catching up with us. The 'us' doesn't only include the consuming public, it also means the produce growers in this particular case because the Food and Drug Administration has not yet identified the source of the contamination. It has been several weeks since the start of the outbreak and with no source identified, hundreds of millions of dollars worth of tomatoes have gone to rot because they can't be sold or unharvested or destroyed by tomato growers. Lost revenues often means lost jobs.

The current recall involves tomatoes contaminated with salmonella. Salmonella is a bacterial infection that lives in the intestinal tracts of humans and other animals. The bacteria are usually spread by eating foods contaminated with animal feces. The FDA estimates there are 1.4 million cases of salmonella poisoning a year, resulting in about 15,000 hospitalizations and 400 deaths. The problem they having right now is to identify the source of the contamination because unlike bagged produce, loose tomatoes carry no markings. The contaminated tomatoes appears to have been widely distributed. Some salmonella victims bought the contaminated produce at grocery stores, while others apparently have gotten sick after eating at restaurants.

Several large fast food chains have removed the tomatoes from the foods they serve and grocery stores are not to sell them unless they come from states on the safe list. Food sellers have become increasingly sensitive to the issue of contaminated produce since 2006, when spinach contaminated with E. coli bacteria killed three people and shook consumer confidence in the increasingly insecure food supply. FDA now urges the public not to eat tomatoes at all unless you know that they are from one of the states on the safe list. Some restaurants and stores in certain states across the nation have been lucky because they source their tomatoes from local farms that have been unaffected by the outbreak. Experts say the outbreak is likely the product of poor sanitation.

The Food and Drug Administration is expanding its warning to consumers nationwide that a salmonellosis outbreak has been linked to consumption of certain raw red plum, red Roma, and red round tomatoes, and products containing these raw, red tomatoes.

FDA recommends that consumers not eat raw red Roma, raw red plum, raw red round tomatoes, or products that contain these types of raw red tomatoes unless the tomatoes are from the sources listed below. If unsure of where tomatoes are grown or harvested, consumers are encouraged to contact the store where the tomato purchase was made. Consumers should continue to eat cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, and tomatoes sold with the vine still attached, or tomatoes grown at home.

On June 5, using traceback and other distribution pattern information, FDA published a list of states, territories, and countries where tomatoes are grown and harvested which have not been associated with this outbreak. This updated list includes: Arkansas, California, Georgia, Hawaii, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Belgium, Canada, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Israel, Netherlands, and Puerto Rico. The list is available at http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/tomatoes.html#retailers. This list will be updated as more information becomes available.

Of course if you have your own garden (and barring any source of contamination that could exist) you wouldn't have to worry about your tomatoes. Depending on your growing season you might be harvesting them now or in several weeks if you planted now. Given all the problems with the safety of our food supply, homegrown produce is a very good alternative. If you don't have the space necessary to grow everything, remember that there is a local farmers market or Community Supported Agriculture farm where you can buy your produce.