CDC concerned with tomatoes after salmonella cases
CDC concerned with tomatoes after salmonella cases
The new Federal Food Code will change how restaurants handle cut tomatoes in light of recent outbreaks, and a new report finds that tomatoes -- either whole or precut from fields in Florida, Ohio and Virginia -- supplied to restaurants were responsible for the past four salmonella outbreaks.
In 2005 and 2006, four large outbreaks of salmonella infections from eating raw tomatoes at restaurants resulted in 459 culture-confirmed cases of salmonellosis in 21 states, according to a Sept. 7 report issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.
But CDC went one step further and suggested that raw tomatoes may have sickened as many as 79,000 people since 1990 if health officials were to estimate the likely number of unconfirmed laboratory cases associated with salmonella.
In the latest report on the four outbreaks, CDC is directing consumers to take new precautions when handling raw tomatoes.
Seventy-two people from July to November 2005 became ill from eating tomatoes grown on two farms on the eastern shore of Virginia. Salmonella Newport, the outbreak strain, was isolated from irrigation pond water near growing fields.
Another 82 people in eight states in November and December of 2005 were confirmed ill with salmonella Braenderup, and investigators traced the tomatoes to one of two fields in Florida, from where the tomatoes were sent to Kentucky before being shipped to chain restaurants.
Environmental samples from the farm, including drainage ditch water and animal feces around the tomato fields, yielded several different salmonella strains.
From July to November 2006, 115 people across 19 states were confirmed to have salmonella Newport, the identical pattern observed during the 2005 outbreak. No single restaurant was associated with the outbreak, said CDC, and the source of the implicated tomatoes was never identified.
During the same time, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration was investigating another outbreak that included 190 cases spread among 21 states and Canada -- all identified with the salmonella Typhimurium strain. Implicated tomatoes were traced to a single packinghouse in Ohio supplied by three tomato growers from 25 fields in three counties, said CDC. Tomato production had ended by the time the packinghouse was implicated, so FDA deferred the investigation until the next growing season, said CDC.
Because of the scattered nature of outbreak cases, CDC said that evidence suggests contamination is happening early in the distribution phase, either on the farm or in the packinghouses. Traceback investigations in future outbreaks should consider all levels of tomato production, including the field and packinghouse, said CDC.
"Studies focused on these areas should be a priority for the agricultural industry, food-safety agencies and the public health community," according to CDC's Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report.
Tomatoes can internalize salmonella when they are immersed in water with a temperature less than the temperature of the tomato, said the report. Due to the latest outbreaks, restaurants operating under the 2007 Federal Food Code will need to follow new rules that require refrigeration of cut, sliced or processed tomatoes.
"Tomatoes served in restaurants pose a particular concern because restaurants often store and handle tomatoes in ways that allow for amplification of bacteria," said CDC.
But Donna Garren of the National Restaurant Association said that states adopt different versions of the Food Code, and that the restaurant industry needs to be assured that tomatoes are not contaminated by requiring growers to follow better food-safety rules. Keeping tomatoes at a certain temperature is not enough, she said.
The tomato industry has been wrestling with the issue for years, and is in the process of updating its May 2006 edition of the Commodity Specific Food Safety Guidelines for the Fresh Tomato Supply Chain. FDA has set up a tomato task force and spent the summer touring Virginia fields and packinghouses, and it plans to investigate Florida's operations during harvest time this fall.
In 2005 and 2006, four large outbreaks of salmonella infections from eating raw tomatoes at restaurants resulted in 459 culture-confirmed cases of salmonellosis in 21 states, according to a Sept. 7 report issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.
But CDC went one step further and suggested that raw tomatoes may have sickened as many as 79,000 people since 1990 if health officials were to estimate the likely number of unconfirmed laboratory cases associated with salmonella.
In the latest report on the four outbreaks, CDC is directing consumers to take new precautions when handling raw tomatoes.
Seventy-two people from July to November 2005 became ill from eating tomatoes grown on two farms on the eastern shore of Virginia. Salmonella Newport, the outbreak strain, was isolated from irrigation pond water near growing fields.
Another 82 people in eight states in November and December of 2005 were confirmed ill with salmonella Braenderup, and investigators traced the tomatoes to one of two fields in Florida, from where the tomatoes were sent to Kentucky before being shipped to chain restaurants.
Environmental samples from the farm, including drainage ditch water and animal feces around the tomato fields, yielded several different salmonella strains.
From July to November 2006, 115 people across 19 states were confirmed to have salmonella Newport, the identical pattern observed during the 2005 outbreak. No single restaurant was associated with the outbreak, said CDC, and the source of the implicated tomatoes was never identified.
During the same time, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration was investigating another outbreak that included 190 cases spread among 21 states and Canada -- all identified with the salmonella Typhimurium strain. Implicated tomatoes were traced to a single packinghouse in Ohio supplied by three tomato growers from 25 fields in three counties, said CDC. Tomato production had ended by the time the packinghouse was implicated, so FDA deferred the investigation until the next growing season, said CDC.
Because of the scattered nature of outbreak cases, CDC said that evidence suggests contamination is happening early in the distribution phase, either on the farm or in the packinghouses. Traceback investigations in future outbreaks should consider all levels of tomato production, including the field and packinghouse, said CDC.
"Studies focused on these areas should be a priority for the agricultural industry, food-safety agencies and the public health community," according to CDC's Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report.
Tomatoes can internalize salmonella when they are immersed in water with a temperature less than the temperature of the tomato, said the report. Due to the latest outbreaks, restaurants operating under the 2007 Federal Food Code will need to follow new rules that require refrigeration of cut, sliced or processed tomatoes.
"Tomatoes served in restaurants pose a particular concern because restaurants often store and handle tomatoes in ways that allow for amplification of bacteria," said CDC.
But Donna Garren of the National Restaurant Association said that states adopt different versions of the Food Code, and that the restaurant industry needs to be assured that tomatoes are not contaminated by requiring growers to follow better food-safety rules. Keeping tomatoes at a certain temperature is not enough, she said.
The tomato industry has been wrestling with the issue for years, and is in the process of updating its May 2006 edition of the Commodity Specific Food Safety Guidelines for the Fresh Tomato Supply Chain. FDA has set up a tomato task force and spent the summer touring Virginia fields and packinghouses, and it plans to investigate Florida's operations during harvest time this fall.
