Tomato Industry Seeks Compensation

Federal health officials haven't cleared tomatoes as a cause of the salmonella outbreak that has sickened more than 1,270 nationwide, but the tomato industry has -- and it is asking taxpayers to compensate them for their loss.

Rep. Tim Mahoney, a Democrat from Florida, a big tomato producer in the U.S., introduced legislation Wednesday night that would give the nation's tomato growers and shippers $100 million to compensate for losses they incurred in the outbreak. The Agriculture Department would decide who qualifies, much like the way disaster assistance is carried out.

At the same time, Congress has scheduled at least three hearings next week on the salmonella outbreak and why it took so long to figure out what caused it.

The sought-after amount is based on an estimate from Florida growers and includes crops abandoned in the field, products thrown out by retailers and tomatoes forced to be sold as low as $5 a box, compared with as much as $20 in a normal market, said Reggie Brown, executive vice president of the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange, a cooperative of tomato farmers. The Agriculture Department hasn't released a firm estimate of the cost to farmers or distributors.

Source: Wall Street Journal