McDonald’s, Wal-Mart, Burger King, Outback Steakhouse and Taco Bell have all pulled their fresh tomatoes after 145 people have become ill with salmonellosis, including 23 hospitalizations. The illnesses have been linked to certain types of tomatoes, but not all tomatoes, so here’s a helpful cheat sheet that will keep you salmonella-free:
tomatoes
By 6.4.08
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Seventeen people have been hospitalized because of a salmonella outbreak that the CDC is now linking to large, raw tomatoes. There have been 40 cases in Texas and New Mexico, as well as an additional 30 cases in 7 other states. The exact source of the tomatoes is still unknown. [AP]
Burger King Finally Makes A Deal With The Tomato Pickers
By 5.23.08
After repeatedly saying they would never agree to pay more for tomatoes in order to help improve the wages of tomato pickers, Burger King has apparently reached a deal to pay 1.5 cents more per pound.
Burger King Investigating Email Shenanigans In Tomato Price War
By 5.6.08
Last week a Florida journalist busted Burger King VP Stephen Grover for using his tween-aged daughter’s email account to slam a farm workers group—but that wasn’t the only weird email event related to this story. Now Burger King is taking steps to officially distance itself from Grover’s actions and the other internal emails by announcing it’s launched an “internal investigation” into all three.
Burger King Exec Hides Behind Daughter's Email Account To Trash Talk Opponents
By 4.29.08
The next time Burger King VP Stephen Grover goes online to spread FUD about labor advocates, he should probably leave his daughter out of it. For one thing, she’s a horrible accomplice and will spill her guts to the first reporter who calls. For another thing, this forthrightness clearly makes her too ethical to smear a group that’s trying to bring pay for tomato pickers up to living wage levels.
Burger King Will Not Pay Extra For Tomatoes, May Buy Them Elsewhere
By 1.17.08
Burger King has been fighting with tomato pickers in southern Florida for two years, refusing to pay a penny more per pound. Now the burger chain has announced that they may simply buy their tomatoes somewhere else.
Organic Fruit Healthier Than Standard Produce
By 7.8.07
A ten-year study found that organic tomatoes contain twice as many antioxidants as conventionally grown tomatoes. The study published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry claims that when compared to standard produce, organic strains contain higher levels of two high blood pressure-fighting flavonoids.
These findings also confirm recent European research, which showed that organic tomatoes, peaches and processed apples all have higher nutritional quality than non-organic
McDonalds Will Pay More For Tomatoes
By 4.9.07
The organization that is always pestering fast food giants to pass some of their profits along to farm workers by paying $0.01 more for tomatoes has scored a major victory with McDonald’s. From BusinessWeek:
Under the agreement, a third party will verify that farmworkers who pick McDonald’s tomatoes will receive the increase. Oak Brook, Ill.-based McDonald’s will also require its suppliers to follow a workplace code of conduct that the workers would help create.
Burger King Offers To Send Employment Recruiters To Tomato Farms
By 2.12.07
To ask Burger King Corporation to pay a penny more a pound for tomatoes to increase workers’ wages is similar to asking shoppers to voluntarily pay a penny more per pound at the grocery store for tomatoes to increase workers’ wages. Both Burger King Corporation and grocery store shoppers have no business relationship with the workers and cannot get the extra penny to them.
Since they don’t want to seem, like, heartless or anything, Burger King has offered to work with the CIW to send human resources folks from BK down to the farm:
