After Salmonella Scare, Consumers Wary of Summer Tomatoes

ATLANTA — It's the beginning of the summer, and it's tough to find fresh salsa for our chips and tomatoes for our burgers.

But experts say supermarkets and fast food chains that threw out tomatoes suspected in a salmonella outbreak were acting aggressively to protect their customers' health and avoid a consumer backlash. And a federal government that's been sluggish in the past is being more responsive, said consumer advocates. It hasn't been pretty, however. It's been a little like trying to cut a tomato with a dull knife.

Even though the government yesterday cleared fresh tomatoes grown in Florida and California of any responsibility in the outbreak, growers smell doom, predicting consumers will stay away from one of the joys of summer.

It's an expensive proposition to toss seemingly edible food, experts said. But McDonald's and others had good reason to pull the tomatoes, a Seattle attorney who for 15 years has specialized in food-contamination cases, Bill Marler, said.

"The dilemma is if they don't recall the tomatoes and someone gets sick, then they're going to really look foolish," he said.

The government was still trying to pinpoint the source of the dangerous bacteria yesterday.