United update on tomatoes/salmonella

From United Fresh this afternoon:


June 7, 2008
Dear Produce Industry Members,
This is an update concerning the Salmonella saintpaul outbreak. U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) updated its consumer advisory at 6pm eastern time this evening .
FDA is still recommending retailers, restaurateurs, and food service operators continue to offer cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, and tomatoes sold with the vine still attached, from any source. In its update this evening, FDA also advises consumers to limit their consumption of tomatoes to these types of tomatoes and to tomatoes from the areas listed below.
FDA also recommends that all retailers, restaurateurs, and foodservice operators offer raw red plum, raw red Roma, or raw red round tomatoes only if grown and harvested from the areas that are listed below.
The list below was compiled by FDA based on both traceback information and shipping dates. That is, the list includes production areas that have been eliminated as a possible source based on traceback information and it also includes growing regions that were not shipping tomatoes when the first illness related to this outbreak was reported.
FDA has indicated that red Roma, red plum, and round red tomatoes from the following sources are NOT ASSOCIATED WITH THE OUTBREAK:
Arkansas
California
Georgia
North
Carolina
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Belgium
Canada
Dominican
Republic
Guatemala
Israel
Netherlands
Puerto Rico
According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), illnesses related to this outbreak began April 23 and the last onset of illness related to this outbreak is currently May 27. There is roughly a two week period between when someone becomes ill and when the health authorities can determine whether or not they are actually linked to the outbreak. This means that even though the CDC is reporting an increase in illnesses, the cases reported today are people who became ill between April 23 and May 27. This also means that health officials are unlikely to declare the outbreak officially over until they have seen at least two weeks with no new illness onsets.
The FDA's national consumer advisory will likely generate even more media than we've already seen. If you would like, feel free to forward media calls about the outbreak to me or Dr. David Gombas, or contact me if you would like general media messaging points. United Fresh has also established a dedicated webpage to provide the latest information about the Salmonella saintpaul outbreak.
We’ll keep you updated as new information becomes available.
Amy Philpott, Vice President, Communications, 202-303-3400 ext. 425
Dr. David Gombas, Senior Vice President of Food Safety & Technology