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Stores and restaurants pull affected varieties because of nationwide warning
By Lisa Abraham
Beacon Journal food writer
Published on Tuesday, Jun 10, 2008
Many area restaurants and grocery stores have pulled fresh tomatoes off their menus and shelves because of the nationwide warning by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of a salmonellosis outbreak.
Since April, 145 people in 16 states have become infected with Salmonella serotype Saintpaul, a rare strain of the food-borne bacteria that causes vomiting, diarrhea, nausea and fever and can result in hospitalization and death.
The FDA has traced all of the cases back to people eating raw tomatoes, but has not yet pinpointed a source for the contamination. No cases have been reported in Ohio.
Over the weekend, the FDA issued a nationwide warning for consumers to not eat raw tomatoes that are of the round red, plum-shaped or Roma varieties.
The warning does not pertain to cherry or grape tomatoes, vine or stem tomatoes or home-grown tomatoes.
''We pulled everything not from Canada and not on a vine,'' Mike Zemla, director of produce for Acme Fresh Markets in Akron, said Monday. ''We're not going to put anybody at risk.''
Giant Eagle grocery stores also have removed questionable tomatoes.
Likewise, restaurants are cutting fresh tomatoes from their menus. Brinker International, which operates Romano's Macaroni Grille, Chili's and Maggiano's Little Italy restaurants in Northeast Ohio, ordered Sunday that its chain stop serving fresh tomatoes.
''We pulled them all as a precaution. We want to make sure safety is a No. 1 priority for our guests,'' said Maureen Locus, spokeswoman for Brinker.
In addition, McDonald's announced it has stopped serving sliced tomatoes on sandwiches, but would continue to serve grape tomatoes on salads.
A sign went up at Panera Bread on Howe Avenue in Cuyahoga Falls on Sunday alerting customers that the restaurant had stopped serving all tomatoes because of the warning. Manager Brandy Franklin said the shop uses only slicing tomatoes, not grape or cherry tomatoes, so it had no choice but to pull them from sandwiches and salads.
Customers understand
Franklin said customers have been understanding. ''They're pretty much aware of it and actually have been very thankful that we're doing it,'' she said.
The FDA and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been tracking the outbreak for several months. The majority of the illnesses have been in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, but there have been some cases as far east as Virginia and Connecticut.
Kimberly Rawlings, a spokeswoman for the FDA, said the agency is ''still conducting trace-back for the outbreak and have not identified the source. As part of the trace-back, we are looking at all possible sources.''
So far, the FDA has issued a list of eight states and seven countries whose tomatoes have been determined to be safe: Arkansas, California, Georgia, Hawaii, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Belgium, Canada, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Israel, the Netherlands and Puerto Rico.
Roger Thomas, executive chef at Piatto Novo at the Sheraton Suites in Cuyahoga Falls, said he stopped serving everything except grape and cherry tomatoes, which meant eliminating tomato slices from sandwiches.
''Because we're in a hotel, you can imagine we sell a lot of sandwiches,'' he said.
He also took a pasta with fresh tomatoes off the menu for the time being. He said his wholesalers hope that Florida tomatoes would be cleared within a few days.
Zemla said Acme had been getting its tomatoes from Florida, where the crop is in season. He had to pull them until he hears that the state has been put on the FDA's ''safe tomato list.''
Because tomatoes are so perishable, Zemla said, if authorities don't act quickly on Florida, the state could see devastating financial losses for its tomato crop.
Zemla was working on Monday to get what he could from Canada, and said the scare already is having a negative effect on prices.
The situation is becoming one of simple supply and demand. Everyone is trying to get tomatoes from just eight approved states, and some of those — North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee — won't even have crops ready until closer to July 4, he said.
Price increase expected
Zemla expects price increases of about $1 a pound for all tomatoes, as the market fights for what it can get from California, Canada and other approved sources.
The FDA is advising consumers who have tomatoes at home to contact the store where they were bought to find out where they came from and determine whether they are safe to eat
Simply washing the tomatoes may not kill the bacteria, which could be inside the fruit, not merely on the surface. Cooking tomatoes to a temperature of 145 degrees for at least 15 seconds should kill salmonella bacteria, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
Details:
What tomatoes should be avoided?
Raw red plum or red Roma tomatoes.
Raw red round tomatoes.
Items prepared with raw tomatoes such as fresh salsa, pico de gallo and guacamole.
What tomatoes are safe?
Cherry tomatoes.
Grape tomatoes.
Tomatoes sold with the vine still attached.
Tomatoes grown at home.
Tomatoes grown in the following states and countries: Arkansas, California, Georgia, Hawaii, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Belgium, Canada, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Israel, the Netherlands and Puerto Rico.
Source: U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Lisa A. Abraham can be reached at 330-996-3737 or labraham@thebeaconjournal.com.
Many area restaurants and grocery stores have pulled fresh tomatoes off their menus and shelves because of the nationwide warning by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of a salmonellosis outbreak.
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