Restaurants pull tomatoes

Finding large tomatoes in the supermarket or fresh tomatoes on a taco is difficult in this area right now.

Local businesses like Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Burger King, McDonald’s and Dillons have pulled the items to protect their customers from the potential threat of salmonella poisoning.

Last week, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment had identified three cases linked to the nationwide outbreak of salmonella. Kansas is one of 17 states reportedly affected by the outbreak with two cases in South Central Kansas and one in Southeast Kansas.

An epidemiologic investigation conducted by the New Mexico and Texas Departments of Health and the Indian Health Service using interviews comparing foods eaten by ill and well persons has identified consumption of raw tomatoes as the likely source of illnesses in New Mexico and Texas. The specific type and source of tomatoes are under investigation; however, preliminary data suggest that large tomatoes, including Roma and red round are the source, according to a KDHE news release.

Federal investigators know certain types of tomatoes are safe — such as cherry and grape — and certain locales are safe because harvest times and distribution patterns don’t match the salmonella outbreak, said Dr. David Acheson, the Federal Drug Administration’s assistant commissioner for food protection.

On Tuesday, federal authorities cleared fresh tomatoes being harvested in Florida and all those grown in California — the nation’s top two tomato-producing states — of responsibility in the national food poisoning scare, which has sickened 167 people since April.

The government still was trying to pinpoint the source of the dangerous bacteria Tuesday.

“It’s narrowing down rapidly. We hope that in the next few days we’ll be in a position to identify the exact source,” U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach said while speaking at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco.

Asked if the contaminated tomatoes could have come from overseas, he said: “That’s one of the possibilities. That’s certainly one of the things we’re looking at.”

The FDA was posting on its Web site states and countries that had safe tomatoes.

U.S. health officials said there were no confirmed salmonella deaths linked to the outbreak. Fewer than 200 people turned up sick.

“This outbreak, the FDA is clearly making an effort to do better to inform consumers,” said Sarah Klein, attorney in the food-safety program for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group. “They have been fairly slow in the past.”

But experts acknowledged the current situation is complicated, with companies making announcements at a time some might consider either too late or too early: Too late, in that the outbreak appears to be winding down, with no new illnesses occurring in two weeks. And too early, in that health investigators have not yet pinned down a particular food outlet, distributor or grower as a source of the contaminated tomatoes.

For their part, restaurant chains said they were simply being cautious.

“This action is being taken as a precautionary measure to ensure the safety of our guests,” said Burger King Corp. spokeswoman Denise Wilson.

McDonald’s spokesman Bill Whitman said the restaurant chain made the decision to recall tomatoes with “an abundance of caution.” He noted also McDonald’s wasn’t implicated in any way in the recall or asked to stop selling tomatoes.

Salmonella is a bacterial infection that lives in the intestinal tracts of humans and other animals. The bacteria usually are spread by eating foods contaminated with animal feces.

Most persons infected with Salmonella develop diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps 12 to 72 hours after infection. The illness usually lasts four to seven days, and most persons recover without treatment. However, in some persons, the diarrhea may be so severe that the patient needs to be hospitalized. The elderly, infants, and those with impaired immune systems are more likely to have a severe illness.

Every year, about 40,000 cases of salmonellosis are reported in the United States. Because many milder cases are not diagnosed or reported, the actual number of infections may be 30 or more times greater. Salmonellosis is more common in the summer than winter.

As a precaution, KDHE and CDC are advising consumers to do the following:

• Avoid purchasing bruised or damaged tomatoes and discard any that appear spoiled.

• Thoroughly wash all tomatoes under running water.

• Refrigerate within two hours or discard cut, peeled or cooked tomatoes.

• Keep tomatoes that will be consumed raw separate from raw meats, raw seafood and raw produce items.

• Wash cutting boards, dishes, utensils and countertops with hot water and soap when switching between types of food products.

• Wash hands for at least 20 seconds with soap and warm running water after handling raw foods, before eating and after using the toilet.

For more information, call the Harvey County Health Department at 283-1637 or visit www.cdc.gov/salmonella/saintpaul/.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.