 "Photo: Callie Richmond")
The Division of Housing and Food Services has started purchasing all of its tomatoes from local suppliers because of the nationwide salmonella outbreak.
Campus food service officials made the decision Friday to serve only local tomatoes in campus cafeterias in response to a Food and Drug Administration warning concerning salmonella-related illnesses caused by several varieties of raw red tomatoes.
The campus experienced a shortage of tomatoes over the weekend, when only locally grown cherry tomatoes were available.
The distributor that supplies the University's cafeterias normally gets tomatoes and other produce from across the country.
"We purchase from U.S. Food Services, and they come from wherever the growing season is at that time, whether it's in Texas or Florida or California," said Scott Meyer, associate director of housing and food services.
Because Texas is one of the several states with tomato produce deemed safe for consumption, Meyer said the campus might run out of tomatoes later in the summer.
Meyer said that only 20 to 30 percent of total produce purchased is normally bought directly from local farms every week.
For now, the University will purchase its tomatoes from the Austin Sustainable Food Center, which distributes produce from more than 50 local farmers. The center's spokeswoman Susan Leibrock said the center is trying to convince consumers not to avoid purchasing all tomatoes.
Leibrock said locally-produced foods do not go through as many stages of production and transportation and are handled by fewer hands. Those products that require the most transportation also have the greatest chance of being contaminated.
The University will re-evaluate its policy of buying exclusively local tomatoes after the source of the outbreak is identified, he said.
Leibrock said she didn't think the outbreak would negatively affect local farmers' sales, but that anytime there is an
