Tainted tomatoes taken off shelves locally

Tennessee Mountain tomatoes sit in a local stand Sunday. Local restaurants and businesses have stopped selling the fruit due to people in several states becoming sick from salmonella. Reports of tomatoes contaminated with salmonella bacteria in more than a dozen states has prompted some local restaurants and supermarkets here to pull the fruit off shelves

At least 228 cases reported in 23 states has caused popular chains like McDonald's, Wal-Mart, Burger King and Wendy's to voluntarily stop selling red plum, red Roma and round red tomatoes.

Customers walking into these locations are often greeted by signs notifying them of the situation.

"I found out about the tomato outbreak on a short shopping trip to Wal-Mart when I saw their note," Gaffney resident Marcus Alston said. "I'm glad the item was taken off the shelf before anyone else could get sick."

Though the recall causes the avid B-L-T sandwich lover to temporarily find another menu item, Cherokee County resident Brandon Key said the outbreak has not changed how he chooses items at a restaurant or supermarket.

"Not having tomatoes on a burger or a chicken sandwich is a little bit of an adjustment," Key said. "But to me it's nothing that will cause me to change how I order food."

Federal Drug Administration (FDA) officials are trying to locate the origin of the outbreak.

Officials do not believe cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, tomatoes sold with the vine attached and homegrown tomatoes are the source of the outbreak.

Tomatoes grown in South Carolina are also not considered to be affected, which is good news for those selling homegrown produce like the Ingle's location on Floyd Baker Boulevard.

"All of our produce is locally grown so we were not affected by the recall," said Elizabeth Pennington, customer service manager of the Ingle's on Floyd Baker Boulevard. "We have had to answers calls from customers wondering about the tomato issue, though."

The last tomato-related salmonella outbreak was in 2006, when 183 people in 21 states became sick.