Representatives of the food industry in US have decided to appear before a House Committee to point out what they see as errors in the government’s method of tackling salmonella-poisoning. At the same time the industry leaders will also ask the House to review the country’s food safety program.

Since the end of June, the country has been racked by more than 1300 cases of salmonella poisoning which were initially attributed to certain types of raw tomatoes. Around July 17, FDA lifted the warning against consuming tomatoes and later blamed certain types of peppers grown in Mexico, like jalapeno and Serrano, for spreading the offending bacterial strain. The outbreak was the largest case of food-borne illness in the past decade.

However by the time tomatoes were declared safe to be eaten, the tomato industry had lost more than $100 million. Leaders from food industry are expected to claim compensation along with putting forward their grievances before the Committee. At the same time, food safety experts feel that industry leaders should also take the initiative for putting a more efficient system of produce-tracking in place, something which the industry has strongly opposed in the past.

-Kalyani Mookherji