Tomato growers seeking damages Producers ask Congress to help ease their losses after a salmonella scare By Tom Bayles Published Saturday, July 12, 2008 at 4:30 a.m. Last updated Friday, July 11, 2008 at 7:50 p.m. Florida tomato growers are looking to Congress to recoup an estimated $100 million or more in lost sales, the results of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's investigation into a salmonella outbreak that has sickened nearly 1,100 people. Along with tomatoes in both the United States and Mexico, the FDA is now probing two other favorite ingredients for salsa -- jalapeño peppers and fresh cilantro -- as possible sources. But seven weeks into their investigation, federal health officials appear no closer to finding a definitive source of the nation's largest foodborne outbreak. J. Luis Rodriguez, trade adviser for Lake Worth-based Florida Farmers Inc., is spearheading the effort by growers to seek money from Congress in what he calls a "blatant blunder" by the FDA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and others. "The government screwed up big time," Rodriguez said. "And the government should pay restitution for that." Conservative estimates count the damage to Florida's tomato growers at $100 million. Add in other states' growers and those affected in the tomato vending process, such as packers, shippers and retail outlets, and the losses rise to more than $300 million, he said. "I don't know that consumers are going to come back and buy tomatoes," Rodriguez said. "A housewife may say, 'I am not even going to buy tomatoes anymore' -- and now it may have not even been tomatoes." Rodriguez said he has been on hand at tomato packing houses in north Florida in recent weeks and witnessed "truckload after truckload" of the red orbs being dumped into waste piles because they got too old to sell. One of the congressmen Rodriguez is working with is Rep. Allen Boyd, D-Panama City. "Maintaining the integrity and viability of our nation's food supply is a paramount concern of mine," Boyd said in an e-mail to the Herald-Tribune on Friday. "I support restitution for our tomato growers, and currently, I am working to determine the exact damage to our tomato growers and to line up support in Congress." Growers say sales are still down 30 to 40 percent. The FDA broadened a salmonella advisory nationwide June 7 to include red plum, red Roma and red round tomatoes. Since April, nearly 1,100 people infected with the same strain of the Salmonella Saintpaul virus have been identified nationwide and in Canada. The stigma of the outbreak has meant prices for a 25-pound box of tomatoes have dropped from the $16 range to about $6. Florida Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson supports a congressional measure to help growers with their losses, said Terence McElroy, a spokesman with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. "There is no question that our tomato growers have incurred significant losses for something they were not responsible for," McElroy said. "A lot of growers spent a lot of time and money to put those crops in the ground, so it's a reasonable thing for Congress to consider some compensatory damages." McElroy said his agency harbors no ill will toward the FDA and CDC officials who called for the investigation into whether Florida tomatoes were the culprit. But because the investigations have moved away from Florida -- and even away from tomatoes -- a program to help the affected farmers would be fair. "If Congress were to make such a program available, certainly our growers would be first in line since we are the greatest producer of tomatoes in the country and sustained the greatest monetary losses," he said. Lisa Lochridge of the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association said growers are in the process of assessing their losses, and should Congress authorize such a program, tomato farmers will have an accurate accounting of what they have lost. "Compensation is certainly called for in this situation, but what amount it may be and what it may look like, it's too early to tell," Lochridge said.