Tomato growers reeling from salmonella outbreak

MIAMI - Tomato growers in Florida, California, and Mexico are having trouble selling their crops as US regulators hunt the source of a salmonella outbreak linked to certain tomato varieties, growers said yesterday.

The Food and Drug Administration yesterday added parts of Florida, the number one US tomato producer, to its list of states not associated with the outbreak.

But it was unclear whether the move came in time to salvage $40 million worth of Florida tomatoes that an industry official said were in danger of rotting after picking and packing were halted on Saturday.

"The stuff that should have been harvested over the weekend won't survive more than another day or so. The stuff we have in storage is getting riper every minute, and at some point it will have to be disposed of," said Reggie Brown, executive vice president of the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange.

The FDA warned US consumers Saturday that the outbreak was linked to eating certain raw red plum, red Roma, and red round tomatoes, and products containing those tomatoes.

Major restaurant and grocery chains stopped selling those varieties, and some stopped selling all raw tomatoes.

California was already on the FDA's cleared list, but some supermarkets still rejected tomatoes from that state, which is the number two US producer with $400 million in annual sales.

US growers produced $1.28 billion worth of tomatoes last year, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

Florida produces an annual crop valued at $500 million to $700 million, and supplies more than 90 percent of the nation's tomatoes this time of year, Brown said.

The FDA has said it does not know where the contaminated tomatoes originated.