Crisis management

The tomatoes/salmonella outbreak/investigation has presented the industry with one of its toughest challenges ever, creating dynamics of outrage with the FDA's performance and defensiveness about produce traceability. Here is a July 1 communication from United Fresh, which touches on both realities.

Dear Produce Industry Members,

Given the heavy media pick up over the past few days, I wanted to send you a brief update on the Salmonella saintpaul outbreak, even though there is no new information to report specifically on the outbreak investigation itself.

Last Friday, on June 27th, CDC and FDA held a joint media briefing to provide an update on the Salmonella saintpaul outbreak. As you know from the media reports over the weekend, during this briefing CDC indicated that tomatoes may not be the source of the outbreak, although CDC also said that there was still a very strong correlation with tomatoes. In addition, FDA stated that the source of the outbreak may still be in the marketplace; this was based on a June 15 onset of illness date.

Today, CDC and FDA held another joint media briefing, and health authorities reported that June 20 is now the latest onset of illness date related to the Salmonella saintpaul outbreak, and this is still an ongoing outbreak. During the call, CDC and FDA both reiterated that although "other items commonly consumed with tomatoes" are now also being investigated, the strongest correlation is still with tomatoes.

It is important to note that CDC and FDA did not change their advice to consumers, retailers and restaurateurs. The FDA advice is: "July1, 2008: At this time, FDA recommends consuming raw red plum, raw red Roma, or raw red round tomatoes only if grown and harvested from the… areas that HAVE NOT BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH THE OUTBREAK." In addition, "types of tomatoes not linked to any illnesses are cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, and tomatoes with the vine still attached."

A replay of today's media call is available until Friday, July 4, 2008 by dialing 1-800-462-2082; international callers can dial 1-402-344-6820.

FDA is continuing its outbreak investigations in both Florida and Mexico to determine the source of the outbreak. FDA is sampling both domestic and imported product, and continuing to pursue new traceback investigations.

Here at United Fresh, Dr. David Gombas and I have both been giving print and on-camera media interviews. Our general messaging is focused on the industry’s commitment to food safety both in preventing and responding to problems, our sincere hope that CDC has not led any of us down the wrong path, both because of the losses incurred by the industry, but also because, if the outbreak was not caused by tomatoes, everything done over the past five weeks will have done little to actually protect public health, and, finally, the unacceptable management of this outbreak and our request for industry and government health officials to work together on an ongoing basis, not just when a problem occurs. The media has also asked about traceability and country of origin labeling. If you have been contacted by the media and would like to discuss these lines of questioning, or if you would like to refer these calls to us, please feel free to provide my number to reporters.

Obviously, the most important thing to do is still to stop the outbreak, which would be signaled by going 2-3 consecutive weeks with no new illness occurring. To this end, United Fresh has been working with industry scientists and supply chain experts to provide FDA and CDC as much industry input as possible. We are also receiving calls from congressional offices asking what the industry is doing in the areas of traceability and food safety, so we have been answering these questions as well.

As always, we will keep you updated as new information becomes available. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at: Amy Philpott, Vice President, Communications, 202-303-3400 ext. 425.

Regards,

Amy

United Fresh Produce Association
1901 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Ste 1100
Washington, DC 20006