FLORENCE — Across the country, people have been on high alert about the tomato salmonella scare.
Here in the Pee Dee, people are finding ways to get their tomato fix by supporting local growers and home gardens.
Some local growers at the Pee Dee State Farmers Market said the scare really hasn’t had much effect on their sales.
“We’ve had questions about them, but it really hasn’t hurt sales,” Lee Kelly, of Countryside Farms at the farmers market, said. “They’re local tomatoes.”
Becky Walton, public information director for the S.C. Department of Agriculture, said eating only locally grown tomatoes is the best way to avoid contact with the tainted produce.
“They have been cleared from the list of those that were contaminated in the outbreak,” she said. “They are on the market right now, so folks should go out and buy them while they are in season. Look for the Certified South Carolina Grown logo.”
Walton said restaurants and grocers selling tomatoes in South Carolina should be OK because they already have removed any potentially contaminated stock from their shelves.
“What you have out there now is safe to eat,” she said.
Nettie Arrants, a customer at the farmers market, said she and her husband, Donnie, trust locally grown produce because they get to meet the growers. She said she no longer purchases tomatoes from the grocery store.
“I like these Johns Island tomatoes,” she said. “I come here pretty often. I get all my beans here and my peas, too.”
One shopkeeper at the farmers market said he just grows his own tomatoes to avoid problems before they start.
“At home, for our personal use, we have our own garden,” Rio Johnson, owner of Southwest Pottery, said. “We’re pretty safe growing our own.”
Dr. Andrew C. von Eschenbach, commissioner of food and drugs for the Food and Drug Administration, said in a statement Friday the organization was first notified of the salmonella scare May 30. Since then, he said, the FDA has been working to find the source of the contaminated produce.
“We have not identified the specific farms or locations where the infected tomatoes came from, but we have identified many sources producing tomatoes that are quite safe as well as specific types of tomatoes that can be consumed without any concern,” von Eschenbach said.
According to the FDA Web site, tomatoes in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia are safe to eat in the Southeastern part of the United States. Florida tomatoes are only safe when they come from specific counties at this time.
In the Pee Dee, grocery stores have cleared their produce shelves and replaced the potentially contaminated tomatoes with FDA-approved produce. Bi-Lo, Harris Teeter, Food Lion and Piggly Wiggly are all selling tomatoes grown either locally or in states on the FDA’s approved list.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement