FRESNO, Calif. — As tomatoes blush a deep red in farms and gardens throughout the country this week, growers are panicking that a 17-state salmonella outbreak linked to raw tomatoes could shrivel up their summer market.
On Tuesday, federal authorities cleared fresh tomatoes grown in Florida and California — the top tomato-producing states — of any responsibility in the scare which has sickened 167 people since April.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment confirmed Tuesday that a second resident had been diagnosed with Salmonella Saintpaul related to the tainted tomatoes. The identity and condition of the Otero County resident were not released.
The condition of the first Colorado victim, in Weld County, also was not released.
But farmers said the list of safe- to-eat varieties still isn’t enough to convince consumers that tomatoes are safe for salads and salsas or to move their crops back onto grocery shelves and restaurant menus.
“Even though our tomatoes are safe, we know consumers are going to stay away from our product this year,” said Jack King, the California Farm Bureau Federation’s national affairs manager. “The lesson we learned with the spinach E. coli outbreak is that regardless of where the problem exists, it affects all growers.”
Federal officials are still hunting for the source of the bacterial outbreak, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says is linked to a rare strain called Salmonella Saintpaul.
Just three varieties — red plum, red Roma and round red tomatoes — are thought to have caused the illnesses.
Still, growers say the outbreak has affected peoples’ perceptions of all tomatoes, especially since major restaurant and grocery chains including McDonald’s, Wal-Mart and Burger King announced this week they were withdrawing the three varieties from their shelves and menus unless they were grown in state and countries not linked to the scare.
The bulk of the nation’s tomatoes are grown in Florida, where harvest season is ending, and most workers have left to pick crops farther north.
