Tomato growers unsure of next year's crop
Tomato growers unsure of next year's crop
WASHINGTON -- Florida tomato growers, already decimated from this year's drop in crop value, now find themselves having to make tough decisions on whether to plant for next year's crop with a Salmonella warning still hanging over some of their products.
The ongoing outbreak continues to tarnish the overall produce industry and put Florida tomato growers in the "untenable position" of trying to plan for next year's crop, said Mike Stuart, president of the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association.
"We want to get all of Florida cleared" for next year's crop, he said. "We'll be talking to FDA about that."
This is one of the more frustrating epidemiological investigations in the history of the industry and one of the more damaging in terms of the costs to the industry, Tom Stenzel, president and chief executive officer of the United Fresh Produce Association, said in a July 11 conference call that was held to field questions from its members.
As of July 14, 1,167 people have been infected with the Salmonella Saintpaul strain, with some falling ill as recently as July 4, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.
"If people are getting sick July 4, it's not Florida tomatoes that were harvested in April," said Mr. Stuart.
At first, the outbreak was attributed to fresh tomatoes by state and federal disease officials. It was later widened to include Jalape?os and Serrano peppers and cilantro.
Mr. Stenzel said that it is "highly unlikely" that fresh tomatoes were ever the cause of the outbreak, yet the FDA continues with its original warning to consumers to limit purchases of tomato varieties and only from areas listed on FDA's web site. The group has been frustrated by FDA's "flawed" communication with the media, which has led reporters to speculate on the outbreak's origin.
United and other groups plan to push the federal government to compensate struggling tomato businesses, though Mr. Stenzel acknowledged it "will not be an easy task but a very important pursuit."
Farmers will not soon forget that Congress refused to compensate hard-hit spinach growers devastated by the 2006 E. coli O157:H7 outbreak.
Mr. Stuart said that it is difficult to tally the damage to the supply chain while the outbreak is still continuing, but the process has begun.
The Georgia Department of Agriculture already issued a statement saying that it is asking the Georgia congressional delegation to find disaster funds for tomato growers.
"Part of the blame for the economic disaster to tomato growers could and should be attributed to federal agencies that singled out tomatoes as the sole suspect of the Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak," said Georgia Department of Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin. "Although FDA eliminated Georgia tomatoes as a suspect from the beginning, the boycott by restaurants, retailers and the general public of all tomatoes sent a devastating blow through the fields ready for harvest."
While no one in Congress is talking publicly about disaster funds yet, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) sent a letter July 15 to Health & Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt saying that the FDA needs to communicate better with industry and the public, and urgently needs to issue food-safety traceback rules.
There are "many questions that need to be answered about this investigation, particularly if the source of the contamination is determined to be a product other than tomatoes - the primary suspect in this particular Salmonella outbreak," said Sen. Harkin.
He echoed many complaints aired by the industry in recent weeks, saying that FDA should have tapped information from the tomato industry and the U.S. Department of Agriculture on distribution patters and harvest times, handled the outbreak investigation differently and better informed the public about the risks of eating tomatoes.
"If a good share of the tomato supply had been eliminated as a source early on, that would have helped to refocus the search and would have likely sped up solving the mystery. It would have allowed consumers to consume tomatoes and not worry, and would have avoided the enormous losses experienced by tomato growers and distributors," said Sen. Harkin.
"In the face of stark warnings about the vulnerability of our food supply, it is time for the government to take action and implement effective traceback processes so that we can quickly track the origins of contaminated food products in order to prevent increasing cases of illness," he said.
But the produce industry is not so sure that a new mandated traceback system is needed, and is busy educating members of Congress on the industry's own traceback initiative.
"Tomato traceback worked, but it didn't lead to a common source" of contamination, said Robert Guenther, United's senior vice president of public policy.
The bioterrorism law's requirements that have the supply chain tracing one step up and one step back is in place, said Mr. Stuart, adding that the problem is that CDC and FDA need to improve how they conduct an epidemiological investigation.
The ongoing outbreak continues to tarnish the overall produce industry and put Florida tomato growers in the "untenable position" of trying to plan for next year's crop, said Mike Stuart, president of the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association.
"We want to get all of Florida cleared" for next year's crop, he said. "We'll be talking to FDA about that."
This is one of the more frustrating epidemiological investigations in the history of the industry and one of the more damaging in terms of the costs to the industry, Tom Stenzel, president and chief executive officer of the United Fresh Produce Association, said in a July 11 conference call that was held to field questions from its members.
As of July 14, 1,167 people have been infected with the Salmonella Saintpaul strain, with some falling ill as recently as July 4, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.
"If people are getting sick July 4, it's not Florida tomatoes that were harvested in April," said Mr. Stuart.
At first, the outbreak was attributed to fresh tomatoes by state and federal disease officials. It was later widened to include Jalape?os and Serrano peppers and cilantro.
Mr. Stenzel said that it is "highly unlikely" that fresh tomatoes were ever the cause of the outbreak, yet the FDA continues with its original warning to consumers to limit purchases of tomato varieties and only from areas listed on FDA's web site. The group has been frustrated by FDA's "flawed" communication with the media, which has led reporters to speculate on the outbreak's origin.
United and other groups plan to push the federal government to compensate struggling tomato businesses, though Mr. Stenzel acknowledged it "will not be an easy task but a very important pursuit."
Farmers will not soon forget that Congress refused to compensate hard-hit spinach growers devastated by the 2006 E. coli O157:H7 outbreak.
Mr. Stuart said that it is difficult to tally the damage to the supply chain while the outbreak is still continuing, but the process has begun.
The Georgia Department of Agriculture already issued a statement saying that it is asking the Georgia congressional delegation to find disaster funds for tomato growers.
"Part of the blame for the economic disaster to tomato growers could and should be attributed to federal agencies that singled out tomatoes as the sole suspect of the Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak," said Georgia Department of Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin. "Although FDA eliminated Georgia tomatoes as a suspect from the beginning, the boycott by restaurants, retailers and the general public of all tomatoes sent a devastating blow through the fields ready for harvest."
While no one in Congress is talking publicly about disaster funds yet, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) sent a letter July 15 to Health & Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt saying that the FDA needs to communicate better with industry and the public, and urgently needs to issue food-safety traceback rules.
There are "many questions that need to be answered about this investigation, particularly if the source of the contamination is determined to be a product other than tomatoes - the primary suspect in this particular Salmonella outbreak," said Sen. Harkin.
He echoed many complaints aired by the industry in recent weeks, saying that FDA should have tapped information from the tomato industry and the U.S. Department of Agriculture on distribution patters and harvest times, handled the outbreak investigation differently and better informed the public about the risks of eating tomatoes.
"If a good share of the tomato supply had been eliminated as a source early on, that would have helped to refocus the search and would have likely sped up solving the mystery. It would have allowed consumers to consume tomatoes and not worry, and would have avoided the enormous losses experienced by tomato growers and distributors," said Sen. Harkin.
"In the face of stark warnings about the vulnerability of our food supply, it is time for the government to take action and implement effective traceback processes so that we can quickly track the origins of contaminated food products in order to prevent increasing cases of illness," he said.
But the produce industry is not so sure that a new mandated traceback system is needed, and is busy educating members of Congress on the industry's own traceback initiative.
"Tomato traceback worked, but it didn't lead to a common source" of contamination, said Robert Guenther, United's senior vice president of public policy.
The bioterrorism law's requirements that have the supply chain tracing one step up and one step back is in place, said Mr. Stuart, adding that the problem is that CDC and FDA need to improve how they conduct an epidemiological investigation.
