Now or never

The FDA's tomatoes/salmonella traceback - in the context of consumer warnings and pronouncements of "acceptable" shipping regions - has gone on long enough. Of course, for the FDA, there is still work to do, still leads to explore, still teams to send out.

But, in fairness to consumers, grower-shippers, wholesalers, retailers and foodservice operators, I think the time is past to declare it what it must be: inconclusive and unknowable. Unless the agency can identify a farm or packing house within a couple of days, what purpose will continued silence from the agency serve? Unless the agency is bearing down on an concrete answer, their advice to consumers must be revised.

The CDC said in its June 9 update that among the 73 persons who have been interviewed, illnesses began between April 16 and May 27. So the available evidence seems to point to the fact that the threat from product in commercial channels now is passed.

As it is, the FDA's advice is tying decision makers in knots; take tomatoes off the menu, abandon a trusted supplier, destroy perfectly good fruit. Consumers likewise are paralyzed by too much information, with the end result that they either plunge blindly ahead with tomato purchases or shun the category entirely.

Unless there are new and continuing cases of sickness from the salmonella strain linked to tomatoes, the FDA should revise its message soon. In any event, more details must be revealed to industry and the public about the status of the investigation.

Perhaps consumers with compromised immune systems - and the very young or the very old - might be advised for a period of time to refrain from certain types of tomatoes from certain regions that have yet to be cleared.

The FDA may take the opportunity to scold the industry's practices, and that may well be warranted. The industry has seen too much talk and too little action on implementing traceability systems, and the practice of co-mingling of tomatoes from different origins by repackers can't be in the best interests of the public in the event of a foodborne illness outbreak.

In any event, there must be a culmination to this investigation this week. It's now or never time for the FDA.

Market Chat - Andy Nelson

Fresh Talk checks in with Andy Nelson, The Packer's Markets Editor this afternoon, about rains in the Midwest and their impacts on f/v.


me: Andy, thanks for checking in with Fresh Talk today.
2:59 PM I wanted to ask you about your crop coverage this week
3:01 PM andynelsonthepacker: Shoot.
3:02 PM me: One of your main pieces, I know, has been looking at rains in the Midwest - who have you called and briefly, what's the report out there about impact to f/v crops?
3:06 PM andynelsonthepacker: The effects maybe aren't as bad as yo'u'd think, given the stories in the media, video of houses falling into lakes, etc. In Indiana, for instance, pumpkins haven't even been planted yet. Usually our crops coverage from Indiana focuses on pumpkins. There are some melons that were affected, however, but that deal is fairly regional. The real risk could be in Wisconsin. So far, damage has been isolated, but the Badger State's expecting three more inches tomorrow, headed right for growing regions, Dick Okray of Okray Farms told me. Spuds are already projected to be delayed out of Wisconsin and most other areas due to cool, rainy spring conditions. It will be interesting to see how this complicates it even more.
3:08 PM me: Rains just haven't stopped - I guess the Midwest corn crop is water logged as well. Any other crop coverage this week?
andynelsonthepacker: I also wrote stories this week on the Mexican mango crop and the soaring spud markets.
3:09 PM me: How long will Idaho have spuds - they may trouble stretching it out this year, it sounds like. Is the market still moving this week?
3:12 PM andynelsonthepacker: Surprisingly, it really hasn't moved in a week. Prices are high, though - almost double last year at this time. But most growers and officials said they'd go higher...and they didn't. Maybe this is just a lull before they shoot up again. Storage supplies are as low as some old-timers say they've ever seen. But marketers don't expect to run out - just don't look for any promotions until mid-August at the earliest.
3:13 PM me: Andy, we will look forward to the coverage this week. Thanks for checking in.
3:14 PM andynelsonthepacker: Any time, Tom.

National Truck Rate Report - June 10

Ouch. Rates approaching $9,000 from the West Coast to Boston and New York. From the USDA's National Truck Rate Report, the summary:

A shortage of trucks was reported for the following commodities and regions: mangoes, melons and grapes from Nogales, Arizona, grapes from Coachella Valley California, peppers, corn and mixed vegetables from Imperial, Palo Verde and Coachella Valleys California and Central and Western Arizona, carrots and potatoes from Kern District California, mixed vegetables and strawberries from Santa Maria California, citrus and avocadoes from South District California, cherries from Stockton- Lodi-Linden District California, onions from Southern New Mexico and San Antonio-Winter Garden-Laredo District Texas, and sweet potatoes from Eastern North Carolina. A slight shortage of trucks was reported for the following commodities and regions: lettuce, mixed vegetables, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries from Salinas-Watsonville California, plums, peaches, nectarines, apricots and cherries from San Joaquin Valley California, potatoes from San Luis Valley Colorado and Columbia Basin Washington, tomatoes from Central Florida, melons from Florida and Georgia. Upper Valley, Twin Falls-Burley District Idaho noted a truck shortage for potatoes to Northeast locations, all other destinations adequate. FIRST REPORT was issued for onions from San Joaquin California and Southern New Mexico, cherries from Stockton- Lodi-Linden District, California, melons from Georgia, and corn from South Georgia, peaches from South Carolina, and potatoes from Central Wisconsin. LAST REPORT was issued for tomatoes from Central Florida. All other districts reported an adequate supply of trucks.

Really, really local produce

Guest blogger Lance Jungmeyer here ...

High fuel prices this year have a lot of retailers scrambling to put together local or regional supply contracts for typical summer vegetables.

This is sure to gain traction among many consumers.

However, demand for vegetables in general may be down from previous years, if a new survey is any indication.

According to this New York Times article, gardeners have been scooping up vegetable seeds at a historic rate.

George C. Ball Jr., owner of the W. Atlee Burpee Company, said sales of vegetable and herb seeds and plants are up by 40 percent over last year, double the annual growth for the last five years. “You don’t see this kind of thing but once in a career,” he said. Mr. Ball offers half a dozen reasons for the phenomenon, some of which have been building for the last few years, like taste, health and food safety, plus concern, especially among young people, about global warming. But, Mr. Ball said, “The big one is the price spike.”

The striking rise in the cost of staples like bread and milk has been accompanied by increases in the price of fruits and vegetables.

“Food prices have spiked because of fuel prices and they redounded to the benefit of the garden,” Mr. Ball said. “People are driving less, taking fewer vacations, so there is more time to garden.”

Another aspect of the NYT article should give vegetable marketers pause.

Each spring for the last five years, the Garden Writers Association has had TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence, a polling firm, conduct a national consumer telephone survey asking gardeners what makes up the greatest share of their garden budgets. “The historic priorities are lawns, annuals, perennials, then vegetables, followed by trees and shrubs,” said Robert LaGasse, executive director of the association. This year, vegetables went from fourth place to second.

Supermarkets probably won't feel a huge decline in vegetable sales, but there's a distinct possibility of somewhat lower sales come July and August, when many summer vegetables are harvested. This happens every year, but perhaps it will be more pronounced this year.

Personally, I expanded my garden this year. We have red, white and yellow onions, zuchini squash, four kinds of tomatoes, three kinds of peppers, three kinds of cucumbers, strawberries and various herbs.

Tomatoes salmonella headline roundup - June 11

Above pic shows scientist at FDA research lab in Irvine, Calif (AP)

Headlines on the hot topic:

Tainted tomatoes outbreak: Salmonella cases hit 167, 3 in Utah

More bad news on our plates: tainted tomatoes

U.S. Salmonella outbreak explained - New Scientist

From the New Scientist article:

This week, the world's biggest restaurant chain, McDonald's, stopped serving sliced tomatoes due to concern over a Salmonella outbreak that has affected at least 145 people, resulting in 23 hospitalisations.

Wal-Mart and some US grocery stores have shelved several varieties of the fruits, while federal investigators determine where the tainted tomatoes came from.

Here's our guide to why Salmonella outbreaks seem to be increasing in frequency and why cleaner vegetables might mean more outbreaks.

Isn't Salmonella an animal pathogen? What is it doing in tomatoes?

"They have to spend a lot time of their lives going between hosts," says Keith Warriner, a food microbiologist at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada.

Pathogens like Salmonella have probably evolved to cope with life outside our intestines. The deadly Escherichia coli 0157:H7 strain thrives on leafy greens such as spinach and lettuce, while Salmonella tends to do best on fleshier fruits and vegetables.

Plant and animal pathogens really aren't that different, says Warriner. They share many of the same tricks of the trade, including molecular syringes that squirt toxins into cells and "grappling-hooks" that latch onto host cells and don't let go.

The bacteria probably come from groundwater contaminated with animal faeces, he says. Once Salmonella gets on and into a tomato, the fruit acts like an incubator. Bacteria divide even in the cool temperatures of packing houses. "If you get a few samples into the internal tissue, then they will grow for sure," Warriner adds.

How common are Salmonella outbreaks on vegetable and fruit produce?

A recent census of produce outbreaks between 1996 and 2007 counted no fewer than 33 epidemics from Salmonella-contaminated fruits and vegetables. In five of them, tomatoes were the culprit. Cantaloupe melons and sprouted seeds, such as clover and alfalfa, were also common victims. Animal pathogens tend to infect only a limited range of plants.

Are the strains different from the ones that come from undercooked chicken and raw eggs?

Yes, according to Warriner, the strains that infect tomatoes and other plants differ from the strains that you find in dairy and poultry. His lab is currently investigating how the produce strains adapt to tomatoes. So far, he has discovered that the bacteria tend to "turn up" a gene involved in stress responses.

The strain linked to the current outbreak, called "Saint Paul", is rare, but not too different from the other tomato-infecting strains. "There's nothing special about 'Saint Paul'," he says.

Why are we seeing more outbreaks linked to vegetable and fruit produce?

Nobody knows for sure, but scientists have a number of theories.

Fresh vegetables are increasingly packaged and shipped in centralised locations, so instead of a localised outbreak, we see a nationwide or even worldwide epidemic. And while not relevant to tomatoes, bagged produce seems to make some bacteria more virulent, Warriner says.

Scientists and inspectors are also taking harder look at produce as a source of disease. "10 years ago when we just started this research, if you had an outbreak you would have said it must have been the meat or the eggs," he says.

Shouldn't consumers and regulators demand cleaner produce?

Not necessarily, Warriner says. More thorough washing will also kill off the harmless bacteria that coat tomatoes and other produce. These bacteria compete against pathogens like Salmonella.

Warriner's lab found that tomatoes coated with a harmless form of a bug called Enterobacter were less likely to test positive for Salmonella. "If we make them too clean then it's going to be a bigger problem. Salmonella seems to like it when there's no competitor," he says.

Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Group

Another invitation for Fresh Talk readers to join the Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Group. I think the message board for the industry has been a great venue for members to post industry related news and opinion since its inception in March 2007. We have 119 members and something new to read everyday (nearly 1,700 posts so far), and not mainly from me. Here is what is new today:

Luis comments on an article titled " Why did food sellers treat tomatoes like hot potatoes?"or - Life after the spinach outbreak.


Big Apple posts news of a New method that could end lettuce contamination.

Other topics today: GMA industry summit on import safety and UK produce industry "facelift."

“Briefings from Dr. Bob Whitaker”

As passed on by Julia Stewart, the June 10 briefing from Dr. Bob Whitaker is posted on the PMA Web site here. Go to the PMA site for the complete transcript and audio recording, but here is one excerpt where Whitaker talks about how shippers can't "test their way" to food safety:

We can’t test every tomato, that is too expensive – and you end up with no fruit to sell because you had to destroy it all to test it.

Instead, you need to rely on statistical sampling to have confidence that you can eliminate any tomato that is contaminated. But because we believe that contamination events happen so infrequently and at low levels, there simply is not a satisfactory statistical solution to the problem. You can’t just take 20 or 30 tomatoes from a harvest of a thousand and sample them, get a negative result and expect that the remainder of the product is free of pathogens.

Here’s why: Let’s say there are a thousand tomato plants in a block for harvest. Let’s also say that we are going to harvest 20 fruits from each plant over the next 3 weeks; so 60,000 total tomato fruits will come out of that single block. Now let’s say that somehow during the harvest period, 200 fruits have become contaminated with a very low level of Salmonella. You have all your tomatoes in boxes; how do you sample to be sure you can eliminate those that are contaminated? Try it another way, imagine trying to pick 200 black marbles out of a huge box of 60,000 white marbles – and do it blindfolded to boot, because remember, you can’t see bacteria like salmonella. How many times would you have to “sample” the box to get all 200 black marbles? It is a daunting question and given the time, cost and the fact that the test is destructive, it is not practical.

So while the perception of product testing for pathogens on products sounds great, in reality it is currently too difficult to do with any acceptable sense of credibility. You are better off spending your resources to prevent contamination in the first place by having rigorous and frequently reviewed risk-based food safety programs in place.

Florida tomato reaction

From the Florida Tomato Exchange this morning:


MAITLAND, Fla. (June 11, 2008) – Florida’s tomato growers enthusiastically welcomed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s announcement that consumers are clear to eat tomatoes harvested in 19 Florida counties. The counties encompass the Ruskin-Palmetto and Quincy areas of the state, Florida’s prime tomato-producing regions.

The FDA said the following counties are not associated with the outbreak of salmonella saintpaul: Jackson, Gadsden, Leon, Jefferson, Madison, Suwannee, Hamilton, Hillsborough, Polk, Manatee, Hardee, Desoto, Sarasota, Highlands, Pasco, Sumter, Citrus, Hernando and Charlotte.

“This allows us to get Florida tomatoes back into supermarkets and restaurants and to move forward in rebuilding consumer confidence in safe, healthy produce,” said Reggie Brown, executive vice president of the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange. “Our growers are working overtime to get their products back into the marketplace.”

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services worked with the FDA to get the counties added to the “safe to eat” list. Growers will provide a certificate issued by the state with each shipment of tomatoes verifying they were harvested after May 1. The Tomato Growers Exchange urges restaurants and supermarkets to contact their shippers for more information.

The losses already incurred by the state’s tomato industry during the outbreak are major. Growers estimate that ultimately the economic impact will be more than $500 million.

“Until now, the market has been in complete collapse. Crops have remained in fields, packinghouses and in the distribution system,” Brown said. “The losses are staggering.”

No illnesses linked to Salmonella saintpaul have been reported in the Southeast, a primary destination for Florida tomatoes this time of year. “It’s unfortunate that anyone has become ill. However, we’ve had confidence in our tomatoes all along – we just had to wait for FDA and the CDC to do their trace-back work,” Brown said.

The Florida tomato industry remains committed to the production of a safe product. Florida is the first state in the country to adopt a comprehensive food safety program with mandatory government inspection and audit of its tomatoes. “Those involved in the growing and marketing of fresh tomatoes voluntarily incorporate food safety as part of their everyday business practices,” he said. “We’re committed to taking the steps necessary to ensure consumer confidence in our crops.”

CONTACT:
Lisa Lochridge
Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association
(321) 214-5200
Lisa.lochridge@ffva.com

Monterey-Salinas TV: tomato coverage

TV feature posted to youtube yesterday about the tomato/salmonella outbreak; reaction from California's central coast.

United relelase: June 11

From the United Fresh Produce Association:

FDA has expanded its list of areas NOT ASSOCIATED WITH THE OUTBREAK to include counties in Florida that were not in production at the time of the first illness onset associated with the recent Salmonella saintpaul outbreak. According to FDA, "shipments of tomatoes harvested in these counties are acceptable with a certificate issued by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services."

Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) will verify that tomatoes from the designated Florida counties were harvested after May 1 - after the outbreak began. The specific shipment criteria can be found on the Florida Tomato Committee's website at www.floridatomatoes.org.

For more information about the FDACS certificates, please contact FDACS, Division of Fruits and Vegetables at 863-291-5820, or Florida Tomato Committee at 407-660-1949.

Tomatoes from all other states and countries on the FDA list do not need to be verified or accompanied by a certificate.

FDA is still investigating the outbreak and United Fresh will keep you updated as we receive new information. United Fresh is taking calls from the media and yesterday we spoke to several reporters about misinformation in some of the news reports. We will continue to work to provide new information to reporters and correct any misinformation in the media. Please contact us, if you have questions.

Amy Philpott, aphilpott@unitedfresh.org, 202-303-3400 ext. 425

Dr. David Gombas, dgombas@unitedfresh.org

Helpful Links:

Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services: http://doacs.state.fl.us/

Florida Tomato Committee: http://www.floridatomatoes.org/

Shipment criteria found on the Florida Tomato Committees website http://www.floridatomatoes.org/tomatoshipmentcriteria.pdf

United Fresh Produce Association, Home Page www.unitedfresh.org

United Fresh Produce Association, special page on Salmonella saintpaul outbreak http://www.unitedfresh.org/newsviews/food_safety_resource_center/salmonella_saintpaul_outbreak

U.S. Food & Drug Administration http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/tomatoes.html

Wednesday morning reaction

Reaction to the FDA's clearing of Florida tomato producing counties last night:

One reader and industry player, commenting on background, noted the south Florida counties of Hendry, Lee and Collier (Immokalee/Naples) were notably absent from the FDA's list of cleared counties. The observer noted that deal finished up right around the time the first salmonella cases were found on April 23.

However, the observer said the key breakthrough in the FDA list was the clearing of Manatee and Hillsborough counties (Palmetto/Ruskin). Marketers in that region can now start moving unsold product sitting in coolers.

He noted a big question is now how fast the major fast food chains get Florida tomatoes back on their menus. And he noted an unfortunate truth about the media; the clearing of Florida tomatoes won't be reported with the same vigor as the headlines that broadcast the industry's woes.

Complications ahead: lower shipping point prices, combined with added expenses at destination from dealing with riper product, added fuel costs from retrieving rejected products and probable dumping by repackers at terminal markets.

It is not over yet.....