Restaurants, fast-food chains and supermarkets across Southern California removed fresh red Roma, plum and red round tomatoes from their shelves and took them off their menus this weekend as the U.S. government warned of a widening outbreak of salmonella.
The Food and Drug Administration said consumers should avoid raw red plum, red Roma or round red tomatoes, which have been tied to 145 infections reported since mid-April.
Consumers may continue to eat cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, tomatoes sold with the vine still attached and tomatoes grown at home, the FDA statement said.
Major supermarket chains including Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons have stopped selling the three kinds on the FDA list. Other types of tomatoes remained for sale, said Brian Dowling, a vice president of public affairs for Vons owner Safeway, based in Pleasanton, Calif. "It's a precaution."
The Albertsons grocery chain had considered stripping its shelves of all tomatoes, a produce manager said. "At first they told us we had to pull everything, but then they narrowed it down," said Justin Peters at the Albertsons store in Laguna Beach.
Fast-food chains, including Irvine-based Taco Bell Corp. and Denver-based Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., have also stopped offering tomatoes.
The physician who heads the FDA, Andrew C. von Eschenbach, was scheduled to be at an FDA lab in Irvine today, where he was to make a public statement updating news on the ongoing outbreak of salmonella saintpaul, a rare strain of the salmonella microbe, the agency said Sunday.
The agency said last week that it had ruled out tomatoes from many areas, including California, as the source of the salmonella but was still investigating the source of the outbreak.
The 145 infections, including 23 people who required hospital treatment, were reported in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin, the FDA said Saturday in the statement.
On Tuesday, the agency had reported 57 cases, including 17 requiring hospitalization.
Salmonella infections can cause fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain, according to the statement. Young children, frail and elderly people and those with weakened immune systems are particularly at risk.
