Better tracking needed.

Byline: The Register-Guard

The Great Tomato Panic of 2008 shows the high price to be paid for lapses in food safety. The tomatoes that are contaminated with a rare strain of the salmonella bacterium probably come from a single producer or area. But until the source of contamination is identified, to be on the safe side many people will avoid tomatoes altogether and the number of food-borne illnesses will mount. Consumers and producers share an interest in developing a better system of tracking tainted foods, particularly fresh produce.

Fresh produce, unlike packaged or processed foods, lacks a bar code that readily identifies its source. Because large-scale outbreaks of illness related to contaminated produce are relatively rare and seldom fatal, tracking systems like those the U.S. Department of Agriculture has developed for meat, poultry and eggs are lacking. Crops such as tomatoes are distributed nationally and even internationally. Batches from several sources may be mixed and sold in both groceries and restaurants.

The tracking problem is illustrated by the fact that the first tomato-related cases of salmonella were reported in mid-April. The search for the source began in May. The Centers for Disease Control issued its nationwide consumer alert on June 5, by which time 167 people had been sickened in 17 states - including three in Oregon. The actual number of salmonella cases is probably much higher, because some people affected by food poisoning can't or won't see a doctor.

The FDA has ruled out a long list of states, including California, as a source of the contamination (Oregon's tomato crop is still ripening). But even if produce always carried place-of-origin labeling, many people would simply stop buying tomatoes. Only plum tomatoes or standard round slicing tomatoes are implicated, but all varieties will be suspect in many people's minds. Cooked tomatoes are perfectly safe, but as The Register-Guard's Tim Christie reported Thursday, salsa makers in Eugene are seeing signs of a slowdown in sales because of concerns about safety.

The FDA inaugurated a Tomato Safety Initiative last summer in response to 13 multistate salmonella outbreaks since 1990, most of them traced to Florida or Virginia. The initiative is sensibly oriented toward preventing salmonella contamination, which can occur when livestock is raised close to tomato crops or when water used for irrigation is tainted with animal waste. But prevention is of little use after contamination has occurred, and the FDA's efforts to ensure safe agricultural practices do not reach across national borders.

Legislation pending in Congress would give the USDA and the FDA greater power to issue mandatory food recalls. That power could be used effectively only in tandem with an effective system for tracking contamination to its source. The same proposal would create such a system, allowing contaminated foods to be removed without wiping out entire agricultural sectors by clearing their crops from the nation's warehouses and store shelves. Nearly all tomatoes are safe - and growers and consumers alike need a faster and more reliable means of knowing which ones are not.