All News / /

Tomatoes traced to Florida

The Roma tomatoes tainted with salmonella that sickened at least 416 people in five states have been traced to farms in Florida and possibly South Carolina.

Food and Drug Administration investigators are visiting farms in one state this week, agency officials said Tuesday, declining to be more specific.

The outbreak linked to Sheetz convenience stores infected people in 31 counties in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland and Virginia with salmonellosis, a gastrointestinal illness. People became sick in early July.

Florida agriculture officials have been told that FDA investigators will be in that state next week as part of the salmonellosis investigation, but that does not mean that's where the tainted tomatoes were grown, said Liz Compton, spokeswoman with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Florida officials were told that growers in five states that supplied tomatoes that could have ended up at Sheetz are being checked out, she said.

The FDA investigators, including experts in sanitation, inspections, microbiology and epidemiology, will review the farms' operations and records, try to determine in which fields the tomatoes were grown, and do water tests, said John Sanders, general health scientist with the agency's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.

Investigators likely will spend two weeks on the farms, but it could be "several weeks to months" before the agency identifies the cause of the outbreak or farms, he said.

Past investigations of salmonellosis outbreaks have traced the source to humans, animals and contaminated water, Sanders said.

Get Help

Affected by an outbreak or recall?

The team at Marler Clark is here to answer all your questions. Find out if you’re eligible for a lawsuit, what questions to ask your doctor, and more.

Get a free consultation
Related Resources
E. coli

...

E. coli Food Poisoning

What is E. coli and how does it cause food poisoning? Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a highly studied, common species of bacteria that belongs to the family Enterobacteriaceae, so...

E. coli O157:H7

E. coli O157:H7 is a foodborne pathogen that causes food poisoning. E. coli O157:H7 is the most commonly identified and the most notorious Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) serotype in...

Non-O157 STEC

Non-O157 Shiga Toxin-Producing E. coli can also cause food poisoning. E. coli O157:H7 may be the most notorious serotype of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC), but there are at least...

Sources of E. coli

Where do E. coli O157:H7 and non-O157 Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) come from? The primary reservoirs, or ultimate sources, of E. coli O157:H7 and non-O157 STEC in nature are...

Outbreak Database

Looking for a comprehensive list of outbreaks?

The team at Marler Clark is here to answer all your questions. Find out if you’re eligible for a lawsuit, what questions to ask your doctor, and more.

View Outbreak Database