Widening Salmonella Outbreak Prompts Another FDA Tomato Warning

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a.7vZMKU3X_4&refer=us

By Ian McKinnon

June 8 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. restaurants, retailers and food service operators were warned not to use some raw tomatoes in a widening outbreak of salmonella that increased the number of people who had to be hospitalized, according to the government.

Consumers and retailers across the country should avoid raw red plum, red Roma or round red tomatoes, which have been tied to the 145 infections reported since mid-April, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said in a statement on its Web site.

The cases, including 23 people who required hospital treatment, were reported in states including Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin, the FDA said yesterday in the statement. On June 3, the agency reported 57 cases including 17 requiring hospitalization.

Salmonella infections can cause fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain, according to the statement. Young children, frail and elderly people and those with weakened immune systems are particularly at risk.

Consumers may continue to eat cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, tomatoes sold with the vine still attached and tomatoes grown at home, the statement said.

The agency is working with state health regulators, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, food industry groups and others to determine the source of the outbreak, which ``may be limited to a single grower or packer or tomatoes from a specific geographic area, the FDA statement said

To contact the reporter on this story: Ian McKinnon in Calgary at imckinnon1@bloomberg.net.