Sick from Salmonella: Tomatoes May Not Be Culprit

Food safety inspectors broaden investigation into what's causing illnesses.

ByABC News
July 1, 2008, 2:50 PM

July 1, 2008— -- An investigation into whether tainted tomatoes caused more than 850 people to get sick from salmonella is broadening instead of narrowing, prompting consumers and food safety officials alike to express frustration today.

"The pace of this investigation has been frustratingly slow," said Dr. David Acheson, associate commissioner for food at the Food and Drug Administration, Tuesday.

Food safety officials with the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said salmonella has left 869 people ill since April, up from 851 illnesses recorded this weekend. They also said that while tomatoes are the "lead suspect," they aren't yet certain tomatoes are to blame for the illnesses.

"Before you can say it's an outbreak and stop eating tomatoes, there should be certain evidence that that's exactly true, and until that's done, they should reserve judgment," said Tom Nassif, CEO of the Western Growers Association in Irvine, Calif., Tuesday.

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Federal officials first announced the salmonella illnesses months ago, centering their investigation on certain types of raw tomatoes. Since then, food safety inspectors have traveled to tomato farms in Mexico and Florida as the number of sick people continued to rise.

But instead of homing in on what caused the illnesses over the past few months, inspectors now say that they aren't so sure that tomatoes are the culprit.

Several illnesses among people who ate at restaurants in Texas and other states have forced investigators to re-examine their initial assumptions, the CDC explained in a Monday update.

"These clusters have led us to broaden the investigation to be sure that it encompasses food items that are commonly consumed with tomatoes," the CDC update stated.

As a result, officials are retracing their steps and talking to sick people to find what else could be causing the illnesses.

Texas has seen the most cases of salmonella, with more than 300 people sick. New Mexico and Illinois have had reports of nearly 100 illnesses from the outbreak, according to numbers from the CDC.