FDA tours Virginia tomato farms under safety initiative
FDA tours Virginia tomato farms under safety initiative
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Food & Drug Administration has toured more than 50 fields and five packinghouses in the Eastern Shore of Virginia as part of its Tomato Safety Initiative, which was launched this summer in response to repeated outbreaks.
"Our assessment was more observational," Samir Assar of FDA's Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition said in reference to the July visits, adding that some of the Virginia tomato operations were the focus of past outbreak investigations.
"We're looking at areas associated with farming practices, such as water distribution, open water sources and field setup," Mr. Assar said. Also, the federal and state investigators are looking at worker health and hygiene. One goal is to examine to what degree the industry is implementing Good Agricultural Practices and Good Manufacturing Practices.
During the past decade, fresh and fresh-cut tomatoes have been linked to 12 different outbreaks and 1,840 confirmed cases of illnesses in the United States, according to the FDA. The majority of these outbreaks have been traced to products from Florida and the Eastern Shore of Virginia; however, tomato-associated outbreaks also have been traced to tomatoes from California, Georgia, Ohio and South Carolina.
The FDA and state counterparts are still evaluating the large amount of data recorded from the Virginia tomato operations, and the agency is in talks with Florida officials to begin assessing tomato operations there in either late November or December. The initiative includes the FDA and state health and agriculture departments in Florida and Virginia as well as several universities and members of the produce industry.
"We're going to do very similar assessments of Florida farms, though they have a different environment," he said.
The FDA staffer praised Virginia growers for "being incredibly cooperative" in providing areas of harvest and production to be examined. "They went with us to every site," he said. "There's a genuine interest in helping us and helping themselves."
Questions remain about why northeastern-grown tomatoes have caused more outbreaks than the western counterparts, and Mr. Assar said that the FDA had no plans to tour California farms.
Information from the tomato investigation will be shared with industry and the public, he said, although there is no target date for completion.
FDA's Tomato Safety Initiative, which was announced in June, comes as the produce industry has begun updating its 2006 Commodity Specific Food Safety Guidelines for the Fresh Tomato Supply Chain.
"There have been many lessons learned in the short time since the first edition was published," said David Gombas, senior vice president of food safety and technology for the United Fresh Produce Association.
Over the next two months, working groups plan to work on the safety handling guidelines. The FDA said that the agency is providing technical assistance for that effort.
"Our assessment was more observational," Samir Assar of FDA's Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition said in reference to the July visits, adding that some of the Virginia tomato operations were the focus of past outbreak investigations.
"We're looking at areas associated with farming practices, such as water distribution, open water sources and field setup," Mr. Assar said. Also, the federal and state investigators are looking at worker health and hygiene. One goal is to examine to what degree the industry is implementing Good Agricultural Practices and Good Manufacturing Practices.
During the past decade, fresh and fresh-cut tomatoes have been linked to 12 different outbreaks and 1,840 confirmed cases of illnesses in the United States, according to the FDA. The majority of these outbreaks have been traced to products from Florida and the Eastern Shore of Virginia; however, tomato-associated outbreaks also have been traced to tomatoes from California, Georgia, Ohio and South Carolina.
The FDA and state counterparts are still evaluating the large amount of data recorded from the Virginia tomato operations, and the agency is in talks with Florida officials to begin assessing tomato operations there in either late November or December. The initiative includes the FDA and state health and agriculture departments in Florida and Virginia as well as several universities and members of the produce industry.
"We're going to do very similar assessments of Florida farms, though they have a different environment," he said.
The FDA staffer praised Virginia growers for "being incredibly cooperative" in providing areas of harvest and production to be examined. "They went with us to every site," he said. "There's a genuine interest in helping us and helping themselves."
Questions remain about why northeastern-grown tomatoes have caused more outbreaks than the western counterparts, and Mr. Assar said that the FDA had no plans to tour California farms.
Information from the tomato investigation will be shared with industry and the public, he said, although there is no target date for completion.
FDA's Tomato Safety Initiative, which was announced in June, comes as the produce industry has begun updating its 2006 Commodity Specific Food Safety Guidelines for the Fresh Tomato Supply Chain.
"There have been many lessons learned in the short time since the first edition was published," said David Gombas, senior vice president of food safety and technology for the United Fresh Produce Association.
Over the next two months, working groups plan to work on the safety handling guidelines. The FDA said that the agency is providing technical assistance for that effort.
