Salmonella outbreak linked to tomatoes leads to larger food safety questions
1:51 p.m. Friday, June 13, 2008
A salmonella outbreak linked to tainted tomatoes has spread to six more states: New York, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Tennessee and Vermont.
More than 200 people in 23 states have gotten sick from salmonella linked to tainted tomatoes.
Days into this outbreak, we still don't know its origin or if all the bad tomatoes are off the market.
"It definitely worries me that they don't seem to know where it's coming from," Belinda Oswald, a concerned consumer, said.
What states are affected
New York, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Tennessee and Vermont joined Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin in a salmonella outbreak linked to tomatoes.
Learn more at FDA.gov.
Fruits and vegetables on America's dinner table come from several sources, including other countries, where safety standards can be lower than in the U.S. Right now, no system tracks produce from the farm, to the grocery store, to your home.
The Food and Drug Administration says it doesn't have enough money or resources to follow this trail.
Some solutions include more funding for the FDA and a tracking system, like bar code identification. However, this could be expensive.
"There is a cost to a good traceability system, but there is a cost to not having one when you lose total confidence in whether tomatoes being sold are safe," Center for Science in the Public Interest Food Safety Director Caroline Smith said.
At a hearing on Capitol Hill Thursday, some lawmakers expressed frustration at what they call an on-going problem, with devastating effects. "Sadly we have been here before. The longer you sit on this committee, the more depressed you get because the issues never get resolved and crop up again and again," Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette said.
"Country of origin" labeling is also seen as key to tracking produce and ensuring safety for consumers. The system is in place in Europe, but not in the U.S.
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