Produce Spotlight: Tomatoes

Diving into the food safety considerations of tomatoes.

Produce Safety Spotlight: Tomatoes

Red, orange, yellow, green, purple, pink - a full spectrum of color can be found hanging on the tomato vine. Biologically a fruit but culinarily a vegetable, tomatoes are an excellent source of antioxidants, vitamins, calcium, and potassium - not to mention, delicious! Fresh market tomatoes are a treat to enjoy, especially when there are no food safety concerns to worry about. Let’s review some of the common challenges to growing safe tomatoes.

Recalls, Outbreaks, and Tomatoes’ Long History with Salmonella

Tomatoes have been involved in several recalls, some as recent as this year, including two separate U.S. recalls in May 2025. The Williams Farms Repack recall involved potential Salmonella contamination of H&C Farms tomatoes, which were distributed across three states. A second recall by Ray & Mascari Inc. was prompted after Salmonella was suspected in a Hanshaw & Capling Farms facility, affecting tomatoes distributed across eleven states. Both of these recalls escalated to a Class 1 health hazard designation, indicating a “reasonable probability that the use of, or exposure to, a violative product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death.”

Unfortunately, these two recalls were not tomatoes’ first run-in with Salmonella. In 2023 and 2024, an extended, multi-country outbreak linked to organic cherry tomatoes contaminated with Salmonella strathcona affected over 200 people across 16 European Union countries and the United Kingdom. This same strain of Salmonella caused another multi-country outbreak in plum tomatoes in 2020, and yet another cross-border outbreak in snack tomatoes in 2011.

In the United States, fresh tomatoes contaminated with Salmonella caused a cluster of four multistate outbreaks across 21 states in 2005 and 2006. Together, these four outbreaks included over 450 documented cases of salmonellosis, the bacterial infection caused by Salmonella. In the early 1990s, two more multistate outbreaks of Salmonella on fresh tomatoes sickened over 300 people. Overall, the tomato industry has been impacted by more than $1.7 billion across the documented outbreak cases.

Risk Profile: What Makes Tomatoes Risky?

Given the history of Salmonella infections in tomatoes, reviewing the variables that favor Salmonella bacteria is a good place to start. Salmonella lives in the gastrointestinal tracts of birds, reptiles, and mammals, including humans. It is spread when fecal contamination comes into contact with tomato fruit, contaminated water, or soil. In many of the outbreak cases listed above, the contaminating culprit was traced back to contaminated water. Sometimes, the water source itself was contaminated, such as irrigation water contaminated with manure runoff from a laying hen farm. Other times, contamination spread rapidly through a shared washing tank, turning a few infected tomatoes into a full crop contamination. In both these cases, water was the vector for spreading fecal contamination, magnifying the problem and the outbreak.

It is not always possible to determine the origin of a contamination, but there are other factors to consider. We can factor in crop characteristics that make tomatoes susceptible to such infections and growing practices that raise or lower risk factors. In several of the tomato outbreaks, for example, the infected tomatoes were sold as “vine-ripe tomatoes” with the fruit still attached to the stems and vine. Since we know that tomatoes can internalize Salmonella into the fruit if the stems or flowers are infected, it is possible that the presence of the stems and vines contributed to Salmonella contamination.

Even if the stems or flowers are not infected with Salmonella, bacteria can still enter tomatoes through the stem scar and surface of the tomatoes if exposed to the pathogen. A recurring source of Salmonella transmission involves post-harvest activities such as washing. A combination of unclean water sources, insufficiently treated water, and inadequate monitoring of treated water has all contributed to the many outbreak occurrences.

Recommendations

First, always remember that food safety risks and hazards are inherent in growing crops, tomatoes included. Risk management is the key to good food safety! Even small actions can add up to big food safety benefits. Here are a few practices tomato growers can implement to help protect the microbial food safety of their product.

• Review commodity-specific guidelines. The United Fresh Produce Association has published a comprehensive guide on food safety for the fresh tomato supply chain, including recommendations for growing, harvesting, packing, fresh-cut processing, and more.

• Training, training, and more training. Workers who learn and understand the basic principles of food safety will make better food safety choices.

• Monitor and manage water quality. Water is a known spreader of bacteria and pathogens. Utilize clean water sources and monitor the water regularly for quality and potential contaminants. If needed, make adjustments to ensure clean and safe water, such as treating the water with an antimicrobial product, switching water sources, or stopping the use of water on tomatoes.

• Take note of water temperatures. Infiltration of bacteria into the pulp of tomatoes can happen when water used to wash tomatoes is significantly cooler than the core temperature of the produce. Aim for wash water that is the same temperature or warmer than the tomato’s core temperature. 

Want to learn more?

Michigan Produce Safety Technicians are ready to help you meet your on-farm produce safety goals. We will work with you to identify, manage, and minimize risks to food safety on your farm, and help you create a comprehensive food safety plan to prepare you for an MI Produce Safety Risk Assessment Certificate. Working with produce safety technicians is always free and confidential, and there is no cost to apply for the certificate. Click here to get started.

Sources

1. Centers for Disease Control (2007, September 7). Multistate outbreaks of Salmonella infections associated with raw tomatoes eaten in restaurants - United States, 2005-2006. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Retrieved August 21, 2025, from https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5635a3.htm#:~:text=Multistate%20Outbreaks%20of%20Salmonella%20Infections,tomato%2Dsafety%20research%20a%20priority.

2. European Food Safety Authority (2024, November 12). Prolonged multi-country outbreak of Salmonella Strathcona ST2559 linked to consumption of tomatoes in the EU/EEA and the UK. Joint ECDC-EFSA Rapid Outbreak Assessment. Retrieved August 20, 2025, from https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/salmonella-strathcona-ST2559-tomatoes-rapid-outbreak-assessment-november-2024.pdf.

3. Gurtler, J. B., Harlee, N. A., Smelser, A. M., Schneider, K. R. (2018). Salmonella enterica contamination of market fresh tomatoes: A review. Journal of Food Protection, 81(7), 1193-1213. https://doi.org/10.4315/0362-028X.JFP-17-395

4. Hedberg, C. W., Angulo, F. J., White, K. E., Langkop, C. W., Schell, W. L., Stobierski, M. G., Schuchat, A., Besser, J. M., Dietrich, S., Helsel, L., Griffin, P. M., McFarland, J. W., & Osterholm, M. T. (1999). Outbreaks of salmonellosis associated with eating uncooked tomatoes: implications for public health. The Investigation Team. Epidemiology and infection, 122(3), 385–393. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0950268899002393

5. U.S. Food and Drug Administration (2025, May 2). Williams Farms Repack LLC recalls tomatoes due to possible Salmonella contamination. Recalls, Market Withdrawals, & Safety Alerts. Retrieved August 20, 2025, from https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/williams-farms-repack-llc-recalls-tomatoes-due-possible-salmonella-contamination.

6. U.S. Food and Drug Administration (2025, May 3). Ray & Mascari Inc. recalls 4 Count Vine Ripe Tomatoes because of possible health risk. Recalls, Market Withdrawals, & Safety Alerts. Retrieved August 20, 2025, from https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/ray-mascari-inc-recalls-4-count-vine-ripe-tomatoes-because-possible-health-risk.

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Article by Landen Tetil, Produce Safety Technician