Tomatoe Scare resulting in a recall

Originally posted by AccessDenied

Originally posted by Enrikez
I work for a food distribution and warehousing company that distributes to large food service companies and I have been told not to order anymore tomatoes and not to ship anymore tomatoes.

This should last for a few weeks until we can find another supplier, where the vegetable doesn't come from the US.

We have known about this since friday, June 6th.

Oh gosh Enrikez...the tomatoes we get up north here are probably shipped through you. If this is going to last a few weeks, I can just see our restaurant closing up for that time. We just have far too many items with tomatoes as ingredients.
Either that or some of us will be taking a long vacation to support the employees that have been there for years..
Good grief..

Yeah, it's pretty serious. I had something lined up from California, but that is going to fall through. No one can really be sure what is safe yet.

You can't buy a tomatoe from anywhere right now, at least nothing that originates in the US. I really don't think it will affect your restaurant too much though. Everyone is working really hard on getting these from somewhere else, it's just a matter of time. Right now I am in the process of destroying our entire inventory, but we will resupply as soon as possible.

Your tomatoes probably do come through me lol.

How come I can go into the grocery store and there sits an entire display of Ontario hothouse tomatoes? Why the heck are we importing them for the restaurants? Why can't the restaurants go buy Ontario tomatoes, instead of denying them to customers?
What about supporting our own local economy?
What the hell...
This just baffles me to no end.

This is ongoing and seems to still be spreading it seems that jalapeño peppers, and fresh cilantro have now been added to this outbreak.

CDC is collaborating with public health officials in many states, the Indian Health Service, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to investigate an ongoing multi-state outbreak of human Salmonella serotype Saintpaul infections. An initial epidemiologic investigation in New Mexico and Texas comparing foods eaten by persons who were ill in May to foods eaten by well persons identified consumption of raw tomatoes as strongly linked to illness. A similar but much larger, nationwide study comparing persons who were ill in June to well persons found that ill persons were more likely to have recently consumed raw tomatoes, fresh jalapeño peppers, and fresh cilantro. These items were commonly, though not always, consumed together, so that study could not determine which item(s) caused the illnesses.
CDC

Current impact maps





What is going on with our food?

[edit on 17-7-2008 by LDragonFire]