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Retailers Heed FDA Tomato Warning

By Pritzker | Ruohonen

The massive outbreak of Salmonella serotype Saintpaul in raw tomatoes has now affected 145 people in 16 states, including 23 hospitalizations. On June 7, the FDA issued a warning against the purchase and consumption of raw red Roma, raw red plum, raw red round tomatoes, or any products that would contain those tomatoes.  The FDA’s warning does not apply to cherry, grape, and tomatoes with the vine attached. The FDA also announced a list of states and territories that produce tomatoes which are safe to purchase.  The list includes Arkansas, California, Georgia, Hawaii, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Belgium, Canada, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Israel, Netherlands, and Puerto Rico.

In response to the massive outbreak, many stores and restaurants have removed fresh tomatoes from shelves and menus.  The Wall Street Journal reports that McDonald’s, the largest restaurant chain in the United States, has stopped serving tomatoes on all sandwiches.  A spokeswoman for McDonald’s states that this is only a precautionary measure and will continue to offer grape tomatoes on salads. Following McDonald’s actions, restaurants such as Chipotle Mexican Grill, Burger King, Texas Roadhouse, Cracker Barrel, and Wal-Mart have all stopped serving fresh tomato products and removed all products affected by the FDA’s warning.

Chipotle stopped serving its fresh tomato salsa, according to the Los Angeles Times.  Chipotle posted a notice on their website stating “We apologize but our tomato salsa is temporarily unavailable.  Your safety is our top priority. So even though our tomato salsa is completely safe, we have suspended serving it in all of our restaurants as long as there remains any concern about the tomato supply in this country.”

It seems that restaurants and retailers across the country are taking this outbreak and the FDA’s warning very seriously, which should help prevent the outbreak from expanding even more.

Full post as published by Food Poisoning Law Blog on June 09, 2008 (boomark / email).