A recent 16-state salmonella scare means red round, plum and Roma tomatoes may be a little harder to come by this week, since they’re being pulled from some local grocery store aisles and restaurant menus.
Since mid-April 145 people, mostly in Western states, have been infected with salmonella poisoning, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has linked the outbreak to the consumption of raw red Roma, red plum and red round tomatoes.
The source of the bad tomatoes is unknown, but several restaurant chains such as McDonald’s, Subway and Taco Bell and grocery chains such as Winn-Dixie have chosen not to serve or sell tomatoes.
“This is a temporary move,” said Lee Cayler, area manager of Chattanooga Subway. “We want to make sure that our growers and suppliers are providing safe food. It is not worth taking a chance.”
No deaths have been linked to the tomato-born salmonella outbreak, but 23 people have been hospitalized, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
On Saturday, the FDA said retailers and food service operators should not sell red round or Roma tomatoes unless they are from Arkansas, California, Georgia, Hawaii, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Belgium, Canada, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Israel, Netherlands or Puerto Rico.
Cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes and tomatoes sold with the vine still attached are safe for consumption, according to the FDA.
Kenny Pendergrass, vice president of purchasing at Chattanooga-based Dixie Produce, said he no longer is receiving tomato orders from Logan’s Roadhouse, Jason’s Deli, Golden Corral, Subway, McAlister’s Deli and many other local restaurants.
“The ones that have pulled them off the menu, it is a voluntary thing,” he said.
Tomato sales at Dixie Produce have decreased by 50 percent since Roma and red round tomatoes were linked with the salmonella outbreak, and no one knows when restaurants will begin offering those varieties again, Mr. Pendergrass said.
Mr. Cayler said some local Subway restaurants will get new tomatoes in the next few days from growers in the safe states listed by the FDA.
While many retailers are shying away from certain tomatoes, others are not.
Local Bi-Lo stores have not pulled tomatoes from their shelves, said Max Bates, manager of the Signal Mountain Bi-Lo.
“Most of ours come from the safe places,” he said. “There are no issues with us.”
Also, Greenlife Grocery won’t stop selling tomatoes because it now is buying them from Georgia, said Lori Bell, assistant manager of Greenlife Grocery. Sometimes they buy organic tomatoes from Mexico, she said, but they will not purchase any until the FDA has finished its investigation.
“We wouldn’t take chances,” she said.
Joan Garrett has been a staff writer for the Times Free Press since August 2007. Before becoming a general assignment writer for the paper, she wrote about business, higher education and the court systems. She grew up the oldest of five sisters near Birmingham, Ala., and graduated with a master's and bachelor's degrees in journalism from the University of Alabama. Before landing her first full-time job as a reporter at the Times Free Press, she ...
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