July 2, 2008 More produce investigated for salmonella Play video

(NECN/ABC) - For the past month the Food and Drug Administration has been blaming a nationwide salmonella outbreak on tainted tomatoes. But now the government is going to start looking at other types of produce as well.

Navigating the produce aisle these days is a bit like playing Russian
roulette:

Kimberly Doyle
"I always double wash everything even if it says washed twice."
Since April, 869 people have gotten sick from a rare strain of salmonella...the FDA says tomatoes remain the most likely culprit, but they can't find
the source ...so they are expanding their investigation to include other
produce used with tomatoes..

Some of those sickened ate salsa and guacamole at a Mexican restaurant in
Chicago:

Dr. Susan Gergber
"Based on just this information we can't say it was tomatoes or onions or
other types of spices"

The confusion is creating havoc in the fields where tomatoes are rotting on
the vine:

Tom Deardorff
'That's going to result in a total bloodbath .there's going to be tomatoes
in the field that go overripe that go unharvested."

With losses to farmers and restaurants now topping 250 million dollars some
are calling for a congressional investigation ...even the administration's
top health official is becoming impatient.

Mike Leavitt
"Nothing happens fast enough when you have a problem like this."

The FDA has acknowledged

"In September a new law will go into effect requiring produce to be
labeled with the country of origin. But it still won't help investigators
trace a tomato back to a state or farm.

Carla Wohl, ABC News Los Angeles."