Lawmakers Seek Exemptions For UglyRipe Tomato: From The Tampa Tribune

Good grief. How did we get to where we need U.S. Senators to introduce special bills to let someone sell an 'ugly' tomato?

Before you laugh, the Florida Tomato Committee is a gaggle of people who by rights (in my book) ought to be able to say whether any tomato marketed from Florida meets its standards. The problem is, rather than just certifying that specific produce merits their stamp of approval, they have actually acquired the power of blocking interstate sale of anything that doesn't meet their approval. And so you have folks trying to save, produce and sell either innovative or heritage varieties that are being dealt severe blows. As I read a while ago, of course the growers have the option of moving to Mexico for winter season growing...

But that hardly solves the problem of overbearing regulations in this country. We're not talking about a dangerous product, just one that doesn't easily fit the pigeon-holes beloved of the over-important bureaucrats currently in power. Sheesh.

And because I don't want you just taking my word for it, here are links to the bureaucrats at www.floridatomatoes.org and to some folks on the other side of the debate at www.santasweets.com/press-release.php.

If you are new to this kerfuffle, you can also pick up just all sorts of related stories by doing a search. A nice one is this one from USA Today, written by reporter Laura Parker: www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-12-08-uglyripe_x.htm. From this, just a sampling to whet your appetite:

...Growers complain that Procacci's UglyRipes could wreck the reputation of Florida tomatoes. To allow misshapen and blemished tomatoes could open the way for a flood of ugly tomatoes to hit the market, says Reggie Brown, the tomato committee's manager.

"If you allowed the producers of UglyRipe to ship any quality of tomato, then how could you justify not allowing any quality tomato into the market place?" he asks. The rules governing Florida's $500 million-a-year industry, which dominates the fresh tomato market in the USA and annually sends 1.45 billion pounds of tomatoes north, have been in place for decades.

Tomatoes grown west of the Suwannee River in Florida, as well as grape, cherry, Roma and greenhouse tomatoes, are exempt from the rules...

Uhhh.... Words fail me.