Local businesses pull tomatoes

By Staff
Jonathan Willis
Local residents looking to get a tomato on their sandwich or salad at area restaurants will have to look for some other type of topping for the time being.
Most all restaurants in the area have pulled tomatoes from their kitchens after the Food and Drug Administration issued a warning concerning a 17-state salmonella outbreak linked to three types of raw tomatoes. The FDA is still looking for the source of the outbreak.
Salmonella is a bacteria that lives in the intestinal tracts of humans and other animals. The bacteria are usually transmitted to humans by eating foods contaminated with animal feces.
Most infected people suffer fever, diarrhea and abdominal cramps starting 12 to 72 hours after infection and the illness tends to last four to seven days.
Since mid-April there have been 145 reported cases of salmonellosis nationwide, but there have been no reports in Alabama.
Still, the food industry is taking no chances.
Alabama-grown tomatoes are safe to eat, so says state Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks.
He said in a statement Monday that the Food and Drug Administration placed Alabama tomatoes on the "safe to eat" list.
A manager at the Russellville McDonald's declined to comment, but the company has pulled tomatoes from their sandwiches, but will continue to add them to their salads.
Taco Bell and Subway stores in Russellville have put up signs notifying customers that tomatoes are not available at the time.
Dairy Queen has also pulled tomatoes from its menu.
Burger King Corp. said it had withdrawn raw round red tomatoes from most of its U.S. restaurants.
Many companies voluntarily withdrew red plum, red Roma or round red tomatoes unless they were grown in certain states and countries.
Cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, tomatoes sold with the vine still attached and homegrown tomatoes are likely not the source of the outbreak, officials said.
Also not associated with the outbreak are raw red Roma, red plum and round red tomatoes from Arkansas, California, Georgia, Hawaii, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Belgium, Canada, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Israel, Netherlands and Puerto Rico.
Local grocers are still trying to determine how they will be affected and whether or not certain tomatoes should be pulled from their shelves.