Ozarks grocers see little impact from tomato scare

Since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevenetion determined that raw red plum and red Roma tomatoes caused an outbreak of salmonella, more than 600 illnesses have been reported as of June 23 that could be linked to the tainted fruit.

Local sellers from Price Cutter to Smillie’s Market have stopped selling tomatoes from parts of Florida, which the FDA says is the source of the outbreak. But grocers also say that the move hasn’t had much impact on the supply.

“The tomato scare hit just at the time when local tomatoes were coming on the market,” said Bill Smillie, owner of Smillie’s Market. “Usually, the price starts dropping when the fresh, local produce comes on the market because supply outpaces demand.”

Harter House Supermarkets has had a similar experience; co-owner Randy Richards said locally grown tomatoes hit his shelves the same week the salmonella outbreak was announced.

“We had pretty much switched over by then,” he said, noting that the price of tomatoes actually went down when Arkansas tomatoes went on sale. “We only had one tomato we had to pull from the shelves.”

Late spring is when the first wave of locally grown tomatoes hit markets in full force, and Smillie said that, combined with other sources of tomatoes such as local hydroponic farming operations, has made the lack of Florida tomatoes virtually unnoticeable.

“The supply chain wasn’t really interrupted greatly by this tomato scare – if you want to buy tomatoes for your sandwich, we have them,” he said.

‘The right thing to do’

Tomatoes, however, are not the first food scare to hit U.S. supermarkets; in recent years, customers also have faced illness outbreaks related to peanut butter and spinach.

Henry Beersman, spokesman for Greater Springfield Farmers’ Market, said the increased number of food issues has boosted demand for locally grown products.

“Last year, we started using the slogan, ‘Buy from the grower you know.’ It seems like we have a lot more response from people wanting to buy locally,” he said, noting that early tomato growers selling the fruit at the farmer’s market are selling out nearly every day.

Smillie is not surprised that more people are looking for local food sources after the tomato scare. He said that when the public isn’t sure about the safety of a product, grocers and food providers are purposely cautious. One example: the peanut butter recall in 2007.

“I don’t know anyone who got sick on peanut butter,” Smillie said. “But (food manufacturer) ConAgra took back every jar. It didn’t matter. There may have been one jar out of a million that was tainted, but it’s better to just go ahead and trade out or credit folks, so they can buy another product they’re comfortable with, and everyone is happy.”

The situation, Smillie said, is the same with tomatoes; while he isn’t aware of anyone who got sick locally, “the only thing we can do is the right thing to do, which is to not sell (the suspect tomatoes).”

Richards noted that overall tomato sales are down 15 percent at his Harter House stores, due mostly to customer uncertainty. The store made a concerted education effort to keep those sales numbers from dropping more, he added.

“We had a ton of questions from our customers,” he said. “We put signage in to ensure them that all the tomatoes there were deemed safe by the FDA. It was a combination of signage and talking to the customers, but it took that whole effort to keep them buying.”

A growing problem?

Smillie’s not sure there are more problems related to food-borne illness now than there have been in the past, but he said there’s definitely increased awareness among the general public.

“We always have had, at some point, tainted food out there,” he said. “But we’re hearing more about these things now than we have before. I think there’s so much information out there, you hear about it almost instantaneously.”

Beersman said the increased awareness of produce issues has made local options much more popular; he noted that the Greater Springfield Farmers’ Market is full at 90 vendors this year.

“Our growers bring their own product, and customers get to visit with them. On a good day, customers will stay around an hour, just learning about how they grow their product,” he said. “That’s important, to get to know the grower as a friend. When you go to the grocery store, the best you can do is talk to the clerk who unpacked it.”