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Florida Growers Want Compensation for Tomato Scare

The Associated Press - Florida tomato growers want the federal government to compensate them for millions of dollars in lost revenue when a nationwide salmonella outbreak occurred and the government first focused on raw tomatoes.

(July 23)[Notes: SHOTS OF FARMHAND PICKING TOMATOES] FLORIDA TOMATO GROWERS SAY THEY WANT COMPENSATION FROM WASHINGTON FOR THE MILLIONS IN LOSSES THEY SUFFERED DUE TO A SALMONELLA INVESTIGATION THAT ORIGINALLY FOCUSED ON RAW TOMATOES.

In addition to the ongoing contaminated tomato crisis, now comes word that there is a widening ground beef E. coli contamination outbreak.

The outbreak of E. coli was initially tied to ground beef made from beef from Nebraska Beef Ltd. The beef was sold in Kroger stores in Michigan and Ohio. Nebraska Beef initially recalled 531,707 pounds of ground beef as a result of the outbreak, but expanded its recall July 3 to approximately 5.3 million pounds.

The outbreak is now in five states: Kentucky, Indiana and New York each confirmed one case of E. coli infections shown to be identical to the strain which already sickened 41 people in Ohio and Michigan.

The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the E. coli-related illnesses began showing up between May 30 and June 24. No deaths have been reported, but 21 people have been hospitalized and one person developed kidney failure.