Hold the tomatoes!
AP Chicago
Move comes as health officials try to pinpont source of salmonella outbreak.
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, has 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. McDonald's 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 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.
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.
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 its 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 said it had withdrawn raw round red tomatoes from most of its U.S. restaurants. The company also removed the variety from all its locations in Canada and Puerto Rico and from some restaurants on other Caribbean islands.
Burger King said some California restaurants were allowed to continue using the tomatoes because they buy from growers in states the FDA has said are not involved in the outbreak.
Orlando-based Darden Restaurants, which owns and operates six brands including Red Lobster and Olive Garden, and Denver-based Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. also said they'd halted serving tomatoes, with Chipotle posting a notice to customers on its Web site that its tomato salsa is temporarily unavailable.
Taco Bell Corp. pulled tomatoes as well, the Los Angeles Times reported. Messages seeking comment were left by The Associated Press for Louisville, Ky.-based Yum Brands Inc., which owns Taco Bell.
Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the largest grocery seller in the United States, repeated a statement Monday that some tomatoes had been removed from its shelves. Wal-Mart initially announced the action Thursday.
"According to the FDA, cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes and tomatoes sold with the vine still attached are not affected by this incident, and may still be found on our shelves," Wal-Mart said. But the retailer, responding to concerns of federal officials, had stores in New Mexico, Texas and "other select stores with tomatoes from related sources" pull tomatoes listed in the FDA alert. The company said it took from its shelves certain Romas, slicers, three-pack and four-pack tomatoes.
Wal-Mart also programmed an electronic block into its cash registers so they could not ring up any of the tomatoes that may have remained on the shelves.
Jacksonville, Fla.-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, Fla.-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.
In Pittsburgh, KDKA-TV reported that Giant Eagle supermarkets also removed several kinds of tomatoes from their shelves, while the Times said chains Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons did the same.
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.
Check your tomatoes
The Food and Drug Administration is advising people to eat only tomatoes not associated with the outbreak: cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, tomatoes sold with the vine still attached and tomatoes grown at home.
Preliminary data suggest that raw red plum, Roma, or round red tomatoes are the cause, according to the FDA.
"The best thing to do if you have those certain types of tomatoes, throw them away or take them back the grocery store," says Karen Blakeslee, an extension associate in the food science program at Kansas State.
For other tomatoes, wash thoroughly and cut away the part that is attached to the plant and the button on the other side, says Julie Miller Jones, a professor of nutrition and food science at The College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minn. That part can carry a foodborne illness because it's a hard area and organisms can attach themselves to it, she says.
Cooking tomatoes at 145 degrees will kill salmonella.
Inquire at restaurants
Ketchup and cooked sauces are not affected by the outbreak. And several restaurants are not serving tomatoes — on Monday, McDonald's said it had stopped serving sliced tomatoes in its U.S. restaurants.
Blakeslee advises finding out what the restaurant has done in response to the outbreak.
If you are really concerned, tell the restaurant to leave the tomatoes off the sandwiches and salads, says Jones. She says even if you remove them once your order comes, the food could still be contaminated.
Report the illness
Many people misdiagnose salmonella poisoning as the flu, says Jones. Salmonella poisoning generally occurs hours after ingestion, she says, and involves symptoms such as abdominal cramps, headache, fever, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting.
The CDC says symptoms generally appear 12 to 72 hours after infection. People should report a suspected foodborne illness to the local health department.
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