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Wednesday, 11 June 2008 04:03 |
The Wall Street Journal
By JULIE JARGON
Original Publish Date: June 10, 2008
Restaurants and supermarkets across the country pulled certain fresh tomatoes from their menus and produce aisles in response to concerns about a recent spate of salmonella cases, delivering a serious blow to the nation's tomato growers.
Fast-food chains McDonald's Corp. and Burger King Holdings Inc. and retailers Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Kroger Co. were among those that said Monday they were suspending the sale of raw tomatoes until the cause of the salmonella outbreak becomes clearer. Sliced tomatoes came off Burger King Whoppers, and customers at Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. did without tomato salsa.
Many grocers and restaurateurs were careful to say that, while they didn't believe their own tomatoes were unsafe, they were erring on the side of caution. The cascade of tomato-sales suspensions reflects the food industry's concerns that the slightest uncertainty about the safety of the nation's food supply will make consumers leery for a long time.
After spinach contaminated with E. coli bacteria killed three people and sickened nearly 200 in 2006, it took some consumers months or more to start eating leafy greens again, even after regulators pronounced the country's spinach supply safe.
Since April, public-health authorities in the U.S. have reported 145 cases of a type of salmonella known as "Saintpaul." No deaths have been reported, but the illness has caused 23 hospitalizations, according to the Food and Drug Administration. The outbreak has been linked to certain kinds of uncooked tomatoes grown in certain regions of the country, but the source of the affected tomatoes hasn't yet been identified.
Salmonella can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections, particularly in young children, frail or elderly people and those with weakened immune systems.
That is bad news for tomato growers, who produced about $1.27 billion worth of the crop for the "fresh" market in 2007, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "The movement of tomatoes in this country has come to a halt," said Reggie Brown, executive vice president of the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange, a cooperative representing 90% of the tomatoes grown in that state.
Florida is the nation's top producer of fresh tomatoes, followed by California. Growers in Florida harvest from the fall to the first of July, and have been packing and shipping their tomatoes across the country as the number of reported salmonella cases has mounted. The Florida co-op has about $40 million worth on the market.
"We're close to the end of our season, but we're concerned about the impact of this situation on future consumption," Mr. Brown said. Based on the experiences of the spinach and salad industries after the 2006 E. coli outbreak, "It takes some time for confidence to return," he said.
Tom Nassif, president and CEO of Western Growers Association, which represents 3,000 growers and packers of produce, says the tomato industry will suffer huge losses if the salmonella outbreak is viewed as industrywide. "It's probably one farmer on one day in one country or state," he said. "Governmental entities always want to be as conservative as possible, and so do retailers and food-service operators, so they stop serving or selling tomatoes, and that only hurts the industry."
A string of food-safety controversies in recent years has made some consumers extra cautious. A survey released Monday by Deloitte LLP showed that 57% of Americans say they have stopped eating a particular food either temporarily or permanently as a result of a recent safety recall. Nearly nine out of 10 Americans would like to see food stores sell more produce from local farms, the survey found.
Many restaurants that have stopped serving tomatoes say theirs came from tomato-growing regions not associated with the outbreak, but that they didn't want consumers to question the safety of the products. Garden Fresh Restaurant Corp., the San Diego-based parent of the Sweet Tomatoes and Souplantantion restaurant chains, said its suppliers told it that none of its tomatoes were affected, but "because there was so much media coverage around this, we pulled all tomatoes from our restaurants and put signs up explaining why," spokeswoman Erika Diprofio said.
McDonald's, the country's largest restaurant chain, has stopped serving sliced tomatoes on all of its sandwiches in the U.S., spokeswoman Danya Proud said. "This is a precautionary measure only," she said. The chain will continue to serve grape tomatoes in its salads.
Chipotle Mexican Grill said it has temporarily halted sales of its tomato salsa in all restaurants, even though the salsa "is completely safe." The company said it would suspend sales "as long as there remains any concern about the tomato supply in this country." In the meantime, the burrito chain recommended consumers try its mild corn salsa or its green or red tomatillo salsas instead.
Burger King stopped serving raw, round, red tomatoes in most U.S. locations with the exception of some outlets in California that are serviced by growers located in states identified as safe by the FDA, a company spokeswoman said.
Major supermarket chains, including Kroger, Supervalu Inc., Whole Foods Markets Inc. and Wal-Mart, said they had pulled suspect tomatoes off their shelves over the weekend, but continued to carry the varieties that the FDA says are safe. The grocers said they had pulled the products from their produce sections as well as from their fresh prepared foods like sandwiches, salads and salad bars. Some stores have put up signs to alert consumers to the problem.
At a Potbelly Sandwich Works restaurant Monday in Chicago, vegetarian Beth McCoy was disappointed that her veggie sandwich came without tomato. "You wait all winter for a good tomato," said the 35-year-old administrative coordinator for a nonprofit health-care association. "I'm worried about a summer without tomatoes."
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