Restaurants and Institutions

Chris Muller

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes
June 13, 2008

Today it’s tomatoes and salmonella. A while back it was spinach and E. coli. Add gasoline at $4 a gallon, and simply defining what “Going Green” means suddenly has taken on new significance. Green isn’t just about turning lights down and using recycled takeout containers; it’s about finding a way to open for business tomorrow morning.

Going green is the Zeitgeist of American society: Who in our industry doesn’t want to guarantee a steady supply of safe and affordable food for our guests? And who doesn’t secretly want to trade-in their gas guzzling SUV for a hybrid?

Anyone who refuses to see the connections between going green and the runaway prices for corn, wheat and rice (and, as a result, for beef, dairy and baked goods) and soaring energy costs simply isn’t paying attention to the world outside their restaurant’s front door.

Take a look at my “Green is New Black” post from November. Now, a mere seven months later, it almost seems naïve to be considering how to make money from declaring a Green Initiative. Now the wolf is clearly at the door and going green seems to be the only defense to rising costs and declining revenues.

I suggest that we really are only at the beginning of the green challenge for the restaurant world. Let’s talk about tomatoes. As of this writing, more than 228 confirmed cases of Salmonella poisoning have been attributed to tomatoes in 23 states. Rational people are estimating this outbreak will cost upwards of $140 million in lost sales and lost produce (the 2006 spinach crisis was merely $75 million--sold many fresh spinach salads lately?). 

At first, all of the “Red Round, Red Roma, and Red Plum” tomatoes anywhere in a restaurant or supermarket in the United States were pulled from the market. 

My local TV news team is reporting that it could take “up to two weeks” before fresh tomatoes will return to the nearby quick-service restaurants. TWO WEEKS?  How many of your core menu items used to include fresh tomatoes?

What makes this so disturbing is that here in Florida, where more than 50% of America’s fresh tomatoes are grown, there appears to be no link to salmonella. Yet growers are bordering on imminent financial collapse because no one wants to serve or eat tomatoes (from Florida or anywhere else) on the slim chance that they might be tainted. 

The frightening point of this observation, is that by any definition, nothing could be better defined as going green than purchasing fresh red round tomatoes locally and delivering them inside the “100-Mile Diet” radius.

By all means, remove your incandescent light bulbs, use recycled materials in your take-away containers, and purchase energy management software for your refrigeration. 

But, it’s also time to understand and take control of the links in the food chain that stretches from the farmer’s field to your dining room tables. That will be the true test of going green for a dining public becoming more and more afraid of the food you serve.

Posted by Chris Muller on June 13, 2008 | Comments (3)