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Florida Tomato Growers Due Amends

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 25, 2008

Florida's tomato farmers were not to blame for the salmonella outbreak that sickened more than 1,200 people this summer, but they have suffered the brunt of the economic consequences. They want compensation for their estimated $100 million in losses, and they deserve it.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the nation's poor food surveillance system is to blame for the ruin that hit the industry after the FDA warned people in early June to not eat tomatoes grown in Florida.

It took the FDA several weeks to finish its inspection of Florida tomatoes, which found no problem.

By then the industry was devastated.

Now federal officials say the culprit for the salmonella outbreak is probably jalapeno peppers after finding one Mexican-grown pepper at a Texas distribution site was found to contain the salmonella strain. Investigators also think that cilantro or serrano peppers might be the cause of some of illnesses.
Public health and safety should always be the top priority, but given the FDA's faulty surveillance system, it's unfair to hang the agriculture and food industry out to dry when there's a misfired warning.

Some industry experts have suspected all along the contaminated foodstuff came from Mexico because the first illness reports came from border states.

"It's a mess - that's part of the problem with the food-safety system we have today," Michael Doyle, director of the University of Georgia's Center for Food Safety told the Wall Street Journal. "When folks get together at the table, no one is officially in charge."

Now Florida growers are grappling with uncertainty of the public's confidence in their product. They shouldn't be forced to pay the price for the federal government's ineptitude.

The nation needs a safe food supply, but it also needs to do right by farmers who are maligned and damaged when unsafe food isn't their fault.

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