Key Tomato Crop Approved

"With all this information, we feel confident it wasn't Florida, it isn't Florida and it won't be Florida," said Liz Compton, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Some consumers remained confused yesterday by the alert, especially its sweeping prohibition on "red round tomatoes."

FDA officials said the alert is based on information from extensive interviews with people who became ill and whose memories are often not precise.

"When you ask a consumer, they said, 'Well it was red and round. What do you think it was?' " Acheson said.

He advised consumers: "If you're not sure and you're looking at a red tomato, ask the retailer, 'Where did these come from?' " (A list of the 19 states declared safe can be found at http://www.foodsafety.gov.)

Scientists don't fully understand how salmonella, a bacteria that lives in the intestines of humans and animals, contaminates tomatoes. They know, however, that the germs are spread through contaminated water, manure or improper handling.

The bacteria can enter tomatoes through cracks in the skin of the fruit or the stem scar. Once inside, only cooking can reliably kill it, though consumers are advised to routinely wash vegetables to lessen risk.

Fresh tomatoes are grown all over the country at different times of the year. Farmers irrigate them either using an underground drip system or by filling ditches that run alongside rows of tomato plants with water, United Fresh's Gomba said.

The tomatoes are typically hand-picked while they are still green and collected in bins, which are then emptied into tanks of chlorinated water to wash off dirt and sediment.

The tomatoes are stored in a ripening room and from there are sorted by size and color based on customer orders. A handful of grower-packers dominate both the Florida and Virginia tomato industries and harvest up and down the Southeast coast.