The salmonella outbreak that hit the United States in late May has caused the tomato industry to lose about $250 million, and growers are there to ask for government compensation, as at this moment, it is not clear that tomatoes have really been the cause of the outbreak.

Even though government authorities have carried out extensive tests to find the source of the outbreak, not one single tomato had been found to hold traces of the bacteria that made over 1200 victims nationwide. Instead, one jalapeno pepper had been found tainted with the Saintpaul salmonella strain at a distribution center in Texas, the state that was most heavily hit by the outbreak.

Two senators from Florida, one of the states with the highest tomato production, have proposed a bill that would compensate growers and packers with $100 million. However, it is little time to pass the bill, as the November elections are coming soon.

On the other had, the FDA is trying to implement a system that could be used to easily track products on the supply chain. Until now, a law against bioterrorism stated that a food product must be possible to track one step upward and one downward, no matter the stage in which the product might be in the distribution chain. Although this mechanism theoretically allows product tracing, the speed at which this takes place is too low in some situations.

According to the Associated Press, Rep. Diana DeGette said that “We clearly have the technology to trace food from field to fork, but we don't have any national system to coordinate it.”

Creating this national system might be one of the best ways to protect both the industry and the consumers.