Market ripe for local tomatoes
Recent salmonlla outbreak has spurred sales
By Michele Linck Journal staff writer | Posted: Thursday, June 26, 2008
Jim McDonald harvests tomatoes Monday morning, June 23, 2008, at Cardinal Farms, a hydroponic tomato farm in South Sioux City. Neb. Despite a nationwide scare over salmonella contamination in tomatoes, the locally grown tomatoes are safe. (Sioux City Journal photo by Tim Hynds)
DAKOTA CITY -- Siouxland tomato growers report sales are booming as customers seek out locally grown tomatoes in the wake of a nationwide outbreak of tomato-borne salmonella.
By Tuesday, the food-poisoning cases totalled 652, but not a single case has been reported in Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota or Minnesota.
Joan Sapp, of Dakota Dunes, was among consumers looking for safe tomatoes Monday. She said she was confident the beefsteak tomatoes she bought at the Firehouse Market in Sioux City, grown hydroponically by Cardinal Farms in Dakota City, would fit the bill.
"Nationally they're saying to stay away from some tomatoes," Sapp said. "They haven't resolved (the salmonella outbreak) yet. I think locally grown ones are OK."
U.S. Food and Drug Administration investigators focused on specific tomato farms in central and south Florida and the Mexican states of Jalisco, Sinaloa and Coahuila over the weekend in search of the source of the distinctive Salmonella Saintpaul bacterium that is causing the outbreak.
No new information from the newly refined search has been released, however.
Long-term gain possible
Lee Muilenberg oversees the sales and distribution of Northwest Produce brand tomatoes. Clients at Village Northwest in Sheldon, Iowa, help grow the brand's 75,000 pounds of hydroponic tomatoes each year. The fruit is sold to about 30 grocery stores, plus nursing homes and restaurants in the area but also as far away as Sioux Falls, S.D.
"(Demand) for the local product has doubled in local communities because people trust our product," Muilenberg said. "They know it's safe. They know our quality. It's going to be better-tasting because we don't pick them until they're ripe."
Muilenberg said he saw a customer in a Sheldon grocery store walk around tomatoes selling at $1.49 a pound to get to Northwest's tomatoes at $2.49 a pound when she learned from the produce manager that the cheaper tomatoes had come from a warehouse.
At the same time, Muilenberg said, demand in Sioux Falls dropped off. "Some people tend to stay away from tomatoes until they feel comfortable," he said.
Scott Garwood, co-owner of Cardinal Farms, said customers ask about the salmonella problem and say they are happy to have a local source of tomatoes. "Consumers are looking for that kind of quality assurance," he said. And it's good for sales.
"In the past few seasons, we've had to team up with other growers to sell all of our crop," Garwood said. "This year, with the tomato shortage due to salmonella, we've been able to sell everything we produce."
The operation produces about 100,000 pounds of tomatoes each year and sells to all the Hy-Vee Food and Fareway stores in Sioux City and Le Mars, Iowa, among other outlets. It also sells directly to customers from its greenhouse.
"Business is good, the market has grown," Garwood said. "(The outbreak) has helped us more than anything." He said once customers try his tomatoes, he thinks they'll choose them again, so the gain will be long-term.
Gary Kroese produces about 75,000 pounds of hydroponically grown tomatoes at his Calumet Farms greenhouse in Calumet, Iowa. He said some stores backed off buying during the first week of the salmonella outbreak, waiting for the problem to blow over. But other stores beefed up their orders, betting their customers would turn to the locally grown product.
Kroese expects another month or so of very strong sales. Just until everyone's garden tomatoes start to ripen.
Salmonella facts
Where does it come from?
Salmonella commonly occurs in the gut of animals, especially poultry and swine, but also in other domestic and wild animals. It can be found in water, soil, insects, animal feces, and raw meat, poultry and seafood, as well as on factory and kitchen surfaces.
How is it spread?
Exactly how tomatoes become contaminated is not known, but experiments show a number of ways are possible. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, salmonella on a tomato's skin could be drawn into the fruit when it is submersed in water colder than itself; when the bacterium touches the tomato stem, flower or fruit during growth; or if salmonella is transferred to the fruit when it is cut. A cut tomato provides a fertile culture for salmonella bacteria.
What are the symptoms?
A person infected by salmonella may not show symptoms for up to 48 hours. Symptoms can include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fever and headache and last for a day or two. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration estimates 2 million to 4 million salmonella cases causing 400 deaths occur in the U.S. each year, although research estimates only about one in 40 cases is reported.
How bad is the outbreak?
Of the 652 cases reported in 33 states during the recent outbreak, 71 people have been hospitalized. No deaths have been attributed to the outbreak, but authorities said Salmonella Saintpaul could have been a contributing factor in the cancer death of a Texas man.
Sources: CDC and FDA
By Tuesday, the food-poisoning cases totalled 652, but not a single case has been reported in Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota or Minnesota.
Joan Sapp, of Dakota Dunes, was among consumers looking for safe tomatoes Monday. She said she was confident the beefsteak tomatoes she bought at the Firehouse Market in Sioux City, grown hydroponically by Cardinal Farms in Dakota City, would fit the bill.
"Nationally they're saying to stay away from some tomatoes," Sapp said. "They haven't resolved (the salmonella outbreak) yet. I think locally grown ones are OK."
U.S. Food and Drug Administration investigators focused on specific tomato farms in central and south Florida and the Mexican states of Jalisco, Sinaloa and Coahuila over the weekend in search of the source of the distinctive Salmonella Saintpaul bacterium that is causing the outbreak.
No new information from the newly refined search has been released, however.
Long-term gain possible
Lee Muilenberg oversees the sales and distribution of Northwest Produce brand tomatoes. Clients at Village Northwest in Sheldon, Iowa, help grow the brand's 75,000 pounds of hydroponic tomatoes each year. The fruit is sold to about 30 grocery stores, plus nursing homes and restaurants in the area but also as far away as Sioux Falls, S.D.
"(Demand) for the local product has doubled in local communities because people trust our product," Muilenberg said. "They know it's safe. They know our quality. It's going to be better-tasting because we don't pick them until they're ripe."
Muilenberg said he saw a customer in a Sheldon grocery store walk around tomatoes selling at $1.49 a pound to get to Northwest's tomatoes at $2.49 a pound when she learned from the produce manager that the cheaper tomatoes had come from a warehouse.
At the same time, Muilenberg said, demand in Sioux Falls dropped off. "Some people tend to stay away from tomatoes until they feel comfortable," he said.
Scott Garwood, co-owner of Cardinal Farms, said customers ask about the salmonella problem and say they are happy to have a local source of tomatoes. "Consumers are looking for that kind of quality assurance," he said. And it's good for sales.
"In the past few seasons, we've had to team up with other growers to sell all of our crop," Garwood said. "This year, with the tomato shortage due to salmonella, we've been able to sell everything we produce."
The operation produces about 100,000 pounds of tomatoes each year and sells to all the Hy-Vee Food and Fareway stores in Sioux City and Le Mars, Iowa, among other outlets. It also sells directly to customers from its greenhouse.
"Business is good, the market has grown," Garwood said. "(The outbreak) has helped us more than anything." He said once customers try his tomatoes, he thinks they'll choose them again, so the gain will be long-term.
Gary Kroese produces about 75,000 pounds of hydroponically grown tomatoes at his Calumet Farms greenhouse in Calumet, Iowa. He said some stores backed off buying during the first week of the salmonella outbreak, waiting for the problem to blow over. But other stores beefed up their orders, betting their customers would turn to the locally grown product.
Kroese expects another month or so of very strong sales. Just until everyone's garden tomatoes start to ripen.
Salmonella facts
Where does it come from?
Salmonella commonly occurs in the gut of animals, especially poultry and swine, but also in other domestic and wild animals. It can be found in water, soil, insects, animal feces, and raw meat, poultry and seafood, as well as on factory and kitchen surfaces.
How is it spread?
Exactly how tomatoes become contaminated is not known, but experiments show a number of ways are possible. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, salmonella on a tomato's skin could be drawn into the fruit when it is submersed in water colder than itself; when the bacterium touches the tomato stem, flower or fruit during growth; or if salmonella is transferred to the fruit when it is cut. A cut tomato provides a fertile culture for salmonella bacteria.
What are the symptoms?
A person infected by salmonella may not show symptoms for up to 48 hours. Symptoms can include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fever and headache and last for a day or two. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration estimates 2 million to 4 million salmonella cases causing 400 deaths occur in the U.S. each year, although research estimates only about one in 40 cases is reported.
How bad is the outbreak?
Of the 652 cases reported in 33 states during the recent outbreak, 71 people have been hospitalized. No deaths have been attributed to the outbreak, but authorities said Salmonella Saintpaul could have been a contributing factor in the cancer death of a Texas man.
Sources: CDC and FDA
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J wrote on Nov 6, 2008 3:31 PM:
P.S. We all pay premium price as well for your tomatoes. "