State’s Berry Orders Off 50% in Key Markets

Grocers in New York, Boston, Houston, Washington and Toronto have curtailed their orders of fresh California strawberries as much as 50% because of preliminary health reports last month blaming the berries for outbreaks of illness.

California farmers--who produce 80% of the nation’s strawberries--and shippers said they expect the sales slump to persist for weeks if not months as consumers remain concerned over the safety of the state’s berries.

The strawberries haven’t officially been determined to be or exonerated as the carriers of an obscure illness-causing parasite called cyclospora, and California’s growers are somewhat bewildered.

“It’s kind of amazing. The cloud is still there,” said Ed Kelly, a Watsonville grower.

Last week, Texas officials lifted a June 8 health advisory warning Houston residents not to eat California strawberries.

Although Texas has not ruled out the berries as a possible source of infection for 25 people stricken in two separate outbreaks in Houston, officials have widened their search to other possibilities, including raspberries.

Toronto officials went a step further last week by expanding the province’s June 13 advisory about the need to wash U.S. strawberries. They said raspberries and fresh fruit salads also are being considered as possible sources.

Government health officials estimate that about 1,000 cases of illness have been reported in at least 10 states and in the Canadian province of Ontario since a series of outbreaks began in May.

Several weeks ago, Kelly said, government health inspectors tromped through his fields and those of his neighbors, sampling the water and testing berries as they looked for signs of the parasite. No sign of it was found, he said.

The cyclospora organism, transmitted by contact with infected human or animal feces, can cause severe diarrhea, stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting and extreme fatigue. The symptoms can last for several weeks. The illness, which is rarely fatal, can be treated by antibiotics. No deaths have been reported in the recent outbreaks.

Federal officials have yet to pinpoint whether any foods were the source of the outbreak, let alone any particular fruit. And it may be weeks before they can.

Still, a spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control said Wednesday that “it appears that at least some of the cases may be associated with people having eaten a mixture of fruits, including berries, but we are keeping an open mind.”

The California Department of Health Services said no cases of the illness have been reported in the state and no evidence has been found of parasitic contamination of home-grown berries.

In lifting the Houston advisory, Texas health officials said that although reports of isolated cases of cyclospora infection continue to trickle in, they have found no new illnesses involving people who have eaten strawberries.

However, that is little consolation to California berry growers. Farmers in Southern California, where fresh berries are no longer in season, worry about any long-term effect on the industry. But their counterparts upstate face more immediate consequences. For those around Watsonville, the heart of the state’s berry-growing industry, the season continues through the fall.

For them, the cyclospora scare is but the latest in a series of financial setbacks. Flooding and excessive rains wiped out some crops in the Watsonville area last year. Poor growing conditions so far this year have yielded a mediocre crop, and farmers face a cash crunch.

Grocers in New York and other key markets have cut their normal purchases of California berries, forcing growers to peddle their produce elsewhere at a discount.

California shippers who normally would expect to receive $10 to $12 for a 12-pint tray of berries are getting only about $7, according to industry sources.

In a normal year, the California Strawberry Commission, a marketing organization funded by growers, shippers and processors, would be working with retailers nationwide to sponsor heavy promotions for the berries. The industry looks to promotions to assure a typical sales boost around the Fourth of July, when consumers commonly use the red berries to enhance their backyard barbecues.

Promotions later in the summer are also critical, as strawberries face increasing competition from other fruits such as peaches, plums and grapes coming into season.

Although the commission is now running promotions in Western states, where orders for strawberries remain strong, it suspended such programs in certain major Eastern markets on June 21 and won’t restart them for a while, said Therese Thorne, the commission’s spokeswoman.

“In a situation like this,” she said, “whenever you do a promotion, people see strawberries and think ‘cyclospora,’ so marketing programs have been put on hold.”