Some Fla. Tomatoes Behind Salmonella Outbreak?

PlusSome Fla. Tomatoes Behind Salmonella Outbreak?Some Fla. Tomatoes Behind Salmonella Outbreak?The Associated PressThe FDA says tomatoes grown in central and southern Florida and parts of Mexico are among the leading suspects in the salmonella outbreak. But Fla. officials says they're fairly confident Fla. tomatoes are not the source.(June 17)[Notes:ANCHOR VOICE] Florida officials and the U-S Food and Drug Administration are at odds about where the recent salmonella outbreak may have started.The F-D-A says it's looking at tomatoes from central and Southern Florida along with parts of Mexico as the source since those areas were supplying most of the country's tomatoes in April when people started getting sick.The Florida Department of Agriculture says their evidence tells a different story. ((Meyer: "We're fairly confident that the Florida tomatoes are not the result of this outbreak of disease principally because the vast majority of the diseases have occurred in areas where we, far away from here, for example Texas has a large number of these diseases, New Mexico has an outbreak of these diseases, Illinois, areas where we have not shipped tomatoes or shipped many tomatoes."))Still, Meyer says his agency will do what they can to help the F-D-A's investigation.So far, the salmonella outbreak has sickened more than 275 people in 28 states and Washington, D-C.Meanwhile...some restaurants, including McDonald's, are putting tomatoes back on the menu now that the government has identified *safe* crops. Tomatoes currently being harvested in *northern* Florida are among those in the clear since they were not being harvested back in April.They're arriving in stores now, often with a guarantee that they're salmonella-free.

Channel: News & Politics
Uploaded: November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am
Author: AssociatedPress

Length: 01:31
Rating: 5.00
Views: 2153

Tags: behind  fla.  flatomatoes  outbreak?  salmonella  tomatoes  

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