Tomatoes pulled off shelves amid salmonella scare
CHICAGO (AP) - June 10, 2008
McDonald's, Wal-Mart, Burger King, Kroger, Outback Steakhouse,
Winn-Dixie and Taco Bell were among the companies that voluntarily
withdrew red plum, red Roma or round red tomatoes unless they were
grown in certain states and countries.
In addition, officials at the Los Angeles Unified School
District - the nation's second largest - said Monday they have
"indefinitely suspended" serving uncooked tomatoes.
The FDA is investigating the source of the outbreak, agency
spokeswoman Kimberly Rawlings said. "We are working hard and fast
on this one and hope to have something as quickly as possible,"
Rawlings said Monday.
Cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, tomatoes sold with the vine
still attached and homegrown tomatoes are likely not the source of
the outbreak, federal officials said.
Also not associated with the outbreak are raw red Roma, red plum
and round red tomatoes from Arkansas, California, Georgia, Hawaii,
North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Belgium, Canada,
Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Israel, Netherlands and Puerto Rico.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that
since mid-April, 167 people infected with salmonella with the same
"genetic fingerprint" have been identified. At least 23 people
have been hospitalized.
A 67-year-old cancer patient in Texas who health officials said
was sickened by salmonella at a Mexican restaurant is believed to
be the first death associated with the outbreak.
The death of Raul Rivera last week has been officially
attributed to his cancer, but Houston health department spokeswoman
Kathy Barton told the Houston Chronicle in Tuesday's editions that
the salmonella strain was a contributing factor.
Rivera's wife said he was hospitalized after eating pico de
gallo, a tomato-based condiment, in late May while celebrating good
news about his cancer treatment.
Salmonella is a bacteria that lives in the intestinal tracts of
humans and other animals. The bacteria are usually transmitted to
humans by eating foods contaminated with animal feces.
Most infected people suffer fever, diarrhea and abdominal cramps
starting 12 to 72 hours after infection. The illness tends to last
four to seven days.
The Food and Drug Administration warned consumers in New Mexico
and Texas as early as June 3 about the outbreak. The agency
expanded its warning during the weekend and chains began
voluntarily removing many red plum, red Roma or round red tomatoes
from their shelves in response.
The salmonella causing the outbreak is a very unusual type
called salmonella saintpaul, said FDA Commissioner Andrew C. von
Eschenbach, who added it was not more virulent than other types of
salmonella.
McDonald's, the world's largest hamburger chain, stopped serving
sliced tomatoes on its sandwiches as a precaution, but will
continue serving grape tomatoes in its salads because no problems
have been linked to that variety.
The decision didn't upset Connie Semaitis, a 49-year-old travel
agent in downtown Chicago, who bought a cheeseburger and a drink at
a McDonald's during lunch hour Monday.
"I'd rather be safe than sorry," Semaitis said.
Tampa-based OSI Restaurant Partners LLC, which owns and operates
eight brands including Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba's and Bonefish
Grill, said it stopped serving all raw tomatoes other than grape
tomatoes on Saturday evening. The company also instructed
restaurants to discard salsa and other prepared foods containing
raw tomatoes.
Burger King Corp. said it had withdrawn raw round red tomatoes
from most of its U.S. restaurants, as well as locations in Canada
and Puerto Rico and some other Caribbean islands. Some California
restaurants continued using the tomatoes because they buy from
growers in states the FDA has said are not involved in the
outbreak, Burger King said.
Other restaurant operators that stopped serving most tomatoes:
Yum Brands Inc., which owns Taco Bell, KFC, Long John Silver's and
A&W All-American Food Restaurants; Darden Restaurants, which owns
and operates six brands including Red Lobster and Olive Garden;
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.; and Garden Fresh Restaurant Corp.,
which operates Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes restaurants in 15
states.
Among retailers, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. - the largest grocery
seller in the U.S. - is working with federal officials to ensure
affected tomatoes are pulled from Wal-Marts, Neighborhood Markets
and Sam's Club warehouse stores nationwide, spokeswoman Deisha
Galberth said.
Galberth said the company is modifying orders to its stores and
putting an electronic block at its registers as an added safety
measure to keep the recalled tomatoes from being purchased.
Cincinnati-based Kroger Co., the nation's largest traditional
grocery chain, said it pulled the three types of tomatoes from all
its stores in 31 states on Sunday per the FDA advisory. The company
had early last week pulled the tomatoes from stores in Texas and
New Mexico.
Winn-Dixie Stores Inc., which operates 521 stores in five
southern states, also stopped selling tomatoes involved in the FDA
warning, as did Publix Super Markets Inc. Publix offered refunds to
customers who bought the tomatoes before they were removed from
shelves.
Trader Joe's, with more than 280 grocery stores in 23 states,
also stopped selling the tomatoes in question and offered refunds,
according to a statement from spokeswoman Alison Mochizuki.
Giant Eagle, which has 223 supermarkets in western Pennsylvania,
West Virginia, Ohio and Maryland, said it also removed the tomatoes
from store shelves; as did SuperValu Inc., which operates Jewel,
Shaw's, Cub Foods, Acme and some Albertson's stores.
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AP Business Writer Matthew Perrone in Washington and AP writers
Lisa Orkin in Miami; John Antczak in Los Angeles; Ramesh Santanam
in Pittsburgh; Gillian Flaccus in Irvine, Calif.; and Maria
Danilova in Chicago contributed to this report.
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On the Net:
FDA warning:
http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2008/NEW01848.html
CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/saintpaul/