Grape Tomatoes Are Recalled in Missouri Due To Potential Health Risk
From Missouri Digital News: https://mdn.org
MDN Menu

MDN Home

Journalist's Creed

Print

MDN Help

 MDN.ORG: Missouri Digital News
MDN Menu

MDN Home

Journalist's Creed

Print

MDN Help

 MDN.ORG Mo. Digital News Missouri Digital News MDN.ORG: Mo. Digital News MDN.ORG: Missouri Digital News
Lobbyist Money Help  

Grape Tomatoes Are Recalled in Missouri Due To Potential Health Risk

Date: December 1, 2011
By: Mengti Xu
State Capitol Bureau

Intro: 
A St. Louis-based produce company is recalling grape tomatoes after the Texas' supplier found the tomatoes are contaminated with Salmonella.
RunTime:  0:45
OutCue:  SOC

Wrap: Rio Queen Citrus in Texas confirmed Salmonella, which can cause serious infections in 243 boxes of grape tomatoes the company has sent to St.Louis and Dallas.

Rio Queen Citrus President Mike Martin says the company doesn't know the exact source of the contamination, but they have sent people to Mexico where the tomatoes were grown to help identify the source.

Actuality:  FOOD3.WAV
Run Time:  00:07
Description: "We feel like something happened there in the harvesting and packing process, but we are not sure, so that's what we are trying to identify."

Martin says he feels confident their costumers will identify the products and recall them back to destroy them.

Martin also says they have reported the issue to the Food and Drug Administration and are working together for further investigation.

Reporting from the state Capitol, I'm Mengti Xu. 

Intro: 
A Texas'company is working with the Food and Drug Administration to try to find out the source of contamination in its grape tomatoes which are recalled by a St. Louis-based produce company.
RunTime:  0:47
OutCue:  SOC

Wrap: Rio Queen Citrus in Texas discovered its grape tomatoes sent to St. Louis and Dallas are contaminated with Salmonella after testing random samples from each lot of tomatoes.

Its president Mike Martin says they stopped sending other grape tomatoes out. 

Actuality:  FOOD4.WAV
Run Time:  00:05
Description: "No harvest is being done; no packing is being done, so there is no additional product coming into the market."

Martin says officials of the Food and Drug Administration may go to visit farmers in Mexico where the tomatoes were grown.

Martin also says the company will test again after investigation.

Actuality:  FOOD5.WAV
Run Time:  00:08
Description: "Then we will proceed in a slow manner and do testing of product sampling to make sure that we are not finding any kind of contamination."

Although no illnesses have been reported, Martin says it is possible some people ate those tomatoes.

Reporting from the state Capitol, I'm Mengti Xu.