Tomato tour hits Kendall to re-cultivate trust BY SUE ARROWSMITH Miami Herald First it was a freeze last January, then a salmonella outbreak during the summer. It's been a tough year for tomato growers in Florida, the nation's largest supplier of fresh tomatoes.   Just ask Freddy Strano of F. Strano and Sons Farm in Homestead. His crops got burned by the biting cold wind last winter.   ''It's been pretty hard,'' he said.   More recently, the threat came in the form of bacteria.   In June, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration alerted consumers about an uncommon strain of salmonella linked to the consumption of certain types of raw red tomatoes.   At the time, the FDA announced that at least 145 persons had been infected since mid-April.   DiMare Farms of Homestead, the nation's largest grower with 15 locations throughout the country, suffered losses along with hundreds of other tomato growers in South Dade.   As they waited for the FDA to conclude its investigations, truckloads of fresh tomatoes were turned away by retailers.   Paul J. DiMare, president of DiMare, posted a letter echoing relief on the company's website after the FDA finally cleared Florida tomatoes in July.   ''As most of you know this has been an incredibly disruptive six-week period for everyone in the produce industry,'' he wrote.   ``I know we are all anxious to resume business as normal and begin the process of rebuilding consumer faith in the safety and security of the fresh tomato market and the produce industry as a whole.''   This fall, the Florida Tomato Committee launched a promotional campaign throughout 15 target markets in the eastern coast to kick-start sales. The campaign includes an ad in Parade magazine and a Culinary Art Tour, a mobile art gallery.   The tour features food samples and education materials on how Florida tomatoes are grown and packaged to ensure safety.   Think of it as an art show at the grocery store.   ''[It's] a sort of traveling tomato festival visiting with folks in the neighborhoods and in communities to get people thinking about the versatility and availability of Florida tomatoes right now,'' said Samantha Winters, director of education and promotion for the committee.   Before the tour started in November, the committee invited consumers from each of the 15 markets chosen to submit tomato-inspired art work.   Fifteen winners were chosen, one from each city, to receive $1,000 and have their art work displayed from city to city as part of the tour's traveling exhibition.   The tour will be in town Thursday and Friday at Norman Brothers Fresh Produce, 7621 SW 87th Ave., in Kendall.   ''We want people to know that our tomatoes here are safe,'' said Katie Edwards, executive director of the Dade County Farm Bureau. ``We want to restore consumer confidence.''   Last month, the Produce Safety Project, an initiative of the nonpartisan Pew Charitable Trusts at Georgetown University, issued a report blaming a lack of coordination and communication between government agencies over the handling of the salmonella outbreak.   It may have unfairly kept the focus on tomatoes and caused unnecessary economic harm to the industry, the report said.   The media and consumer public also were never told that tomatoes from supermarkets were not believed to be a problem and the warning on tomato consumption wasn't lifted until July 17, according to the report.