McDonald's, Wal-Mart, others yank tomatoes

[miami_fan]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/06/09...ef=mpstoryview

CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- McDonald's, Wal-Mart and other U.S. chains have halted sales of some raw tomatoes as federal health officials work to trace the source of a multistate salmonella food poisoning outbreak.


Burger King, Outback Steakhouse and Taco Bell were among other restaurants voluntarily withdrawing tomatoes from their menus, following federal recommendations that consumers avoid red plum, red Roma or round red tomatoes unless they were grown in certain states and countries.

McDonald's Corp., the world's largest hamburger chain, stopped serving sliced tomatoes on its sandwiches as a precaution until the source of the bacterial infection is known, according to a statement Monday from spokeswoman Danya Proud. The Oak Brook, Illinois-based company will continue serving grape tomatoes in its salads because no problems have been linked to that variety, she said.

The source of the tomatoes responsible for the illnesses in at least 16 states has not been pinpointed.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that since mid-April, 145 people infected with salmonella with the same "genetic fingerprint" have been identified. At least 23 people have been hospitalized, and no deaths have been reported.

In downtown Chicago, travel agent Connie Semaitis, 49, bought a cheeseburger and a drink at a McDonald's restaurant during lunch hour Monday. She said she was happy the chain was being cautious.

"I'd rather be safe than sorry," Semaitis said.

Cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, tomatoes sold with the vine still attached and homegrown tomatoes are likely not the source of the outbreak, federal officials said.

Also not associated with the outbreak are raw 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.

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. The illness tends to last four to seven days.

The Food and Drug Administration warned consumers in New Mexico and Texas as early as June 3 about the outbreak. The agency expanded its warning during the weekend and chains began voluntarily removing many red plum, red Roma or round red tomatoes from their shelves in response.

The FDA is investigating the source of the outbreak, agency spokeswoman Kimberly Rawlings said.

"We are working hard and fast on this one and hope to have something as quickly as possible," Rawlings said Monday.

Rawlings said the FDA's "traceback" investigations typically look at similarities in illnesses reported to the CDC by state health officials. Investigators work backward to find the source of the contaminated product.

FDA Commissioner Andrew C. von Eschenbach toured the agency's southwest regional research lab in Irvine, California, on Monday, where microbiologists worked to trace the source of the outbreak.

The salmonella causing the outbreak is a very unusual type called salmonella saintpaul, said von Eschenbach, who added it was not more virulent than other types of salmonella.

Tampa-based OSI Restaurant Partners LLC, which owns and operates eight brands including Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba's and Bonefish Grill, said it stopped serving all raw tomatoes other than grape tomatoes on Saturday evening. The company also instructed restaurants to discard salsa and other prepared foods containing raw tomatoes.

Miami-based Burger King Corp. said it had withdrawn raw round red tomatoes from most of its U.S. restaurants, as well as locations in Canada and Puerto Rico and some other Caribbean islands. Some California restaurants continued using the tomatoes because they buy from growers in states the FDA has said are not involved in the outbreak, Burger King said.

Other restaurant operators that stopped serving most tomatoes: Louisville, Kentucky-based Yum Brands Inc., which owns Taco Bell, KFC, Long John Silver's and A&W All-American Food Restaurants; Orlando-based Darden Restaurants, which owns and operates six brands including Red Lobster and Olive Garden; Denver-based Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.; and San Diego-based Garden Fresh Restaurant Corp., which operates Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes restaurants in 15 states.

Among retailers, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. -- the largest grocery seller in the U.S. -- is working with federal officials to ensure affected tomatoes are pulled from Wal-Marts, Neighborhood Markets and Sam's Club warehouse stores nationwide, spokeswoman Deisha Galberth said.

Galberth said the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company is modifying orders to its stores and putting an electronic block at its registers as an added safety measure to keep the recalled tomatoes from being purchased.

Cincinnati-based Kroger Co., the nation's largest traditional grocery chain, said it Sunday pulled raw Roma tomatoes, plum tomatoes and red round tomatoes from all its stores in 31 states per the FDA advisory. The company had early last week pulled the tomatoes from stores in Texas and New Mexico.

Jacksonville, Florida-based Winn-Dixie Stores Inc., which operates 521 stores in five southern states, also stopped selling tomatoes involved in the FDA warning, as did Lakeland, Florida-based Publix Super Markets Inc. Publix offered refunds to customers who bought the tomatoes before they were removed from shelves or destroyed over the weekend.

Monrovia, California-based Trader Joe's, with more than 280 grocery stores in 23 states, also stopped selling the tomatoes in question and offered refunds, according to a statement from spokeswoman Alison Mochizuki.

O'Hara Township, Pennsylvania-based Giant Eagle, which has 223 supermarkets in western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio and Maryland, said it also removed the tomatoes from store shelves during the weekend; as did Minneapolis-based SuperValu Inc., which operates Jewel, Shaw's, Cub Foods, Acme and some Albertson's stores.

California Tomato Farmers President Ed Beckman said that at this time of year almost all tomatoes sold in the United States come from either Mexico or Florida.

Mexico supplies about one-third of all tomatoes consumed in the U.S. in the winter months and Florida is the No. 1 producer, with $600 million in sales annually. California is the second-largest producer, with $400 million in sales annually.

Most of the salmonella cases have been clustered in New Mexico and Texas, Beckman said.

[Logan]

I'm up in Providence for work, went to Subway and they had a sign about not offering tomatoes. First I've heard of it.

[Mustang]

Taco Bell yanked them?

Didn't they stop putting green onions on stuff after that scare? No ef'n way I eat a taco without tomato on it.

Pretty soon Taco Bell will consist of just eating a shell.

[Mustang]

dola

I didn't realize McDonalds had anything with tomatoes on it. That's like, healthy...

[henry296]

That makes sense why I couldn't get a tomato on my sandwich today at lunch. I just went to a local sandwich shop.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Mustang

dola

I didn't realize McDonalds had anything with tomatoes on it. That's like, healthy...

Big and Tasty.. my hangover meal.

[MrBug708]

We yanked them here at UCLA

[Passacaglia]

Great, I just used a roma tomato in some tacos I made.

[duckman]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Great, I just used a roma tomato in some tacos I made.

It was nice knowing you. Let me know when they have the funeral. k bye

[Terps]

Tampa-based OSI Restaurant Partners LLC, which owns and operates eight brands including Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba's and Bonefish Grill, said it stopped serving all raw tomatoes other than grape tomatoes on Saturday evening.

Yeah, that was awesome... In the middle of a Saturday night and having to throw away anything I prepared for my cooks that consisted of tomatoes. The only thing we can still use them for is margherita pizzas.

[stevew]

Good ole mexican produce strikes again. hopefully nobody dies this time.

[Chief Rum]

Yup, my restaurant threw out tomatoes Saturday night, too.

[korme]

Yeah I hit up Chipotle yesterday and for the first time in my life had to get something other than their mild salsa. Sucked.

[dickysty]

Great, I ordered extra tomatoes on my tuna sub yesterday.

He happily loaded me up at Subway... and now that I think about it he looked kind of pissed off at the world.

[Celeval]

Originally Posted by Mustang

Taco Bell yanked them?

Didn't they stop putting green onions on stuff after that scare? No ef'n way I eat a taco without tomato on it.

Pretty soon Taco Bell will consist of just eating a shell.

Um... I think they put them /back/.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Logan

I'm up in Providence for work, went to Subway and they had a sign about not offering tomatoes. First I've heard of it.

I ran into the same thing at Subway yesterday, too

SI

[JeeberD]

No tomatoes at the OG, either...

[JeeberD]

Dola-

When we pulled green onions and spinach in the past due to salmonella outbreaks, it took quite a while before we brought them back. I wonder how long we're going to go without good old romas?

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by Mustang

Didn't they stop putting green onions on stuff after that scare? No ef'n way I eat a taco without tomato on it.

Pretty soon Taco Bell will consist of just eating a shell.

Which is crazy, because all the other stuff in a Taco Bell taco should kill off the salmonella pretty easily.


I'm going to be smug (big surprise!) and just note that our CSA share starts next week.

[Dr. Sak]

I am glad I grow my own in my back yard. Now if I could just get the damn deer from eating them!

[Axxon]

Originally Posted by bsak16

I am glad I grow my own in my back yard. Now if I could just get the damn deer from eating them!

You grow your own Taco Bell?? You lucky duck.

Hmm, no chance for Taco Bell at 619am

[General Mike]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Big and Tasty.. my hangover meal.

More like Small and Nasty. That "sandwich" is horrible.

[Dr. Sak]

I could really go for a Whopper right now.

[lordscarlet]

Originally Posted by korme

Yeah I hit up Chipotle yesterday and for the first time in my life had to get something other than their mild salsa. Sucked.

mmm... corn salsa..

[Cringer]

Two of the salmonella cases have been down in my area. HEB's started pulling tomatoes last week.

I'm not a big fan of the tomato anyways, I will live.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by bsak16

I am glad I grow my own in my back yard. Now if I could just get the damn deer from eating them!

Slip in some of the tomatos with salmonella and you won't have to worry about the deer anymore.

[Dr. Sak]

You are wise beyond your years my friend!

[JediKooter]

Great! Just great!! This is going to push gas up to 5 dollars a gallon at least!!!

[duckman]

Originally Posted by duckman

It was nice knowing you. Let me know when they have the funeral. k bye

Aaron, you alive, brother?

[Neuqua]

I had to pull tomatos at my store today. So to all 3 people who tend to buy hotdogs at my location, you are SOL.

[sterlingice]

I love tomatoes so this is not good

SI

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Neuqua

I had to pull tomatos at my store today. So to all 3 people who tend to buy hotdogs at my location, you are SOL.

This SO reminds me of that episode of the Simpsons where Apu is talking to Homer about his old hotdogs and how there's only one idiot who buys them (Homer's eating a hotdog).

Not sayin' yer hotdogs are old, BTW, Neuq.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by duckman

Aaron, you alive, brother?

haha...I was all, "Hey, my name's Aaron, too! Who's he quoting? What...himself? Oh wait, he's talking to me!" That's what I get for coming in to work early today, then finding out I don't have anything to do.

I'm alive. But someone on my flag football team said her sister got salmonella last week -- that's the closest I've come to it. I'm like Cringer -- not a big fan of tomatoes anyway. I only eat them because I feel like I should to be healthy. Now I have an excuse not to bother.

[JeeberD]

Originally Posted by Neuqua

I had to pull tomatos at my store today. So to all 3 people who tend to buy hotdogs at my location, you are SOL.

Who the fuck puts tomatoes on hotdogs?!?!?

[Dr. Sak]

Originally Posted by JeeberD

Who the fuck puts tomatoes on hotdogs?!?!?

Try a Chicago Style Hot Dog sometime. They are great!

[Mustang]

Originally Posted by JeeberD

Who the fuck puts tomatoes on hotdogs?!?!?

Chicago style dogs are the shit.

Mmmm.. sport peppers. Make yer asshole flame out.

[Neuqua]

Originally Posted by JeeberD

Who the fuck puts tomatoes on hotdogs?!?!?

Sigh. So much you don't know down south.

[lordscarlet]

This is what I know about hot dogs:

[flere-imsaho]

Why do you poop on your hot dogs?

[lordscarlet]

Although, I don't know why anyone would order a hot dog from Ben's when they can get a Half Smoke.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Neuqua

Sigh. So much you don't know down south.

Not only that, even if you DID put tomatoes on a hot dog, we'd still get to find something you didn't do, and say it's not a "real" Chicago dog. Boo-yah!

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by lordscarlet

This is what I know about hot dogs:

and people wonder why I don't eat meat

[st.cronin]

Huh? That looks awesome.

[JeeberD]

Chili Cheese Dogs FTW!

[sterlingice]

I like chili and I like hot dogs and I like chili dogs (no onions, thanks) but that looks disgusting.

SI

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by st.cronin

Huh? That looks awesome.

QFT!

Though I'd have to drain my arteries.

[Mustang]

I want some hot dogs for lunch now.

Local hot dog place had a 'Thai Slow Burn Dog'. Beef hot dog with a radish type kimchi... those things were awesome. Too bad they went out of business.

[SFL Cat]

Originally Posted by Mustang

I want some hot dogs for lunch now.

Local hot dog place had a 'Thai Slow Burn Dog'. Beef hot dog with a radish type kimchi... those things were awesome. Too bad they went out of business.

I could sure go for a couple of beer brauts right about now...