Salmonella Scare Hurts Industry

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Still, that hasn't made much difference to tomato broker BatistaMadonia III, who has seen sales and prices plummet in the wake of asalmonella outbreak that sickened people in 42 states and left thenation's tomato industry feeling woozy as well.
Since the government announced it was investigating whethertomatoes caused the outbreak that began in April, the nation'stomato industry estimates it has lost more than $100 million.Health investigators have not able to find tomatoes that containedthe salmonella strain that sickened 1,220 people, and thegovernment on Thursday lifted its salmonella warning involvingtomatoes.
The move hasn't brightened the outlook of the $1.3 billionindustry, and the stigma and uncertainty of the salmonella's originare likely to add to its losses.
"The damage has been done. I don't think we'll ever get over it,"said Madonia, sales manager for East Coast Brokers & Packers,which grows 4,000 acres on the Eastern Shore.
At height of summer, when tomatoes are a staple of the picnicseason, growers have seen their plump red produce pulled fromfast-food menus and passed over by shoppers.
"Summer is our biggest window of opportunity. If we miss thisseason, we can't get it back," said Tom Deardorff, a farmer inCalifornia, which grows the most tomatoes in the U.S. "It's hard toforce people to eat tomatoes at Christmastime."
Deardorff, a Ventura County farmer who grows 600 acres of beefsteakand Roma tomatoes, worries it could take a year or more forconsumers to regain their appetite for tomatoes.
An Associated Press-Ipsos poll conducted July 10-14 found thatwhile three in four people remain confident about the overallsafety of food, 46 percent said they were worried they might getsick from eating tainted products.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials believe that consumersmay now enjoy all types of fresh tomatoes available withoutworrying about salmonella Saintpaul, the outbreak strain.
The elderly and people with weak immune systems _ those mostvulnerable to food-borne illnesses _ should avoid fresh jalapenosand serranos, and any dishes that may contain them such as freshsalsa, federal health officials have advised.
Growers in Florida and Georgia, the No. 2 and 3 tomato-producingstates, respectively, agreed the damage may be too much toovercome. The harvest is winding down or has ended in those states,and growers are deciding how many acres to devote to tomatoesduring the fall.