Mexican farmers angry over FDA salmonella probe
Farmers are mad enough to throw, well, rotten tomatoes at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which is focusing heavily on Mexico as a potential source of the fruit that has sickened hundreds of people in the United States with salmonella, writes Marla Dickerson from Mexico City. The Associated Press reported last week that Mexican growers and their government called a U.S. warning against certain types of their tomatoes unjust.
The response from Mexico follows the hunt for salmonella-tainted tomatoes, which according to our report from Tiffany Hsu, has now caused 277 reported infections in 28 states and Washington, D.C., since mid-April and has led to at least 43 hospitalizations, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
Mexican tomatoes are putrefying in warehouses south of the border. Producers say they're losing millions of dollars in export sales even though U.S. health officials haven't discovered the pathogen in any of the Mexican samples they've tested.
Photo: Workers separate tomatoes at the sprawling Central de Abastos market in Mexico City. Credit: Gregory Bull, Associated Press
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City
