Mexico says tomatoes targeted unjustly in U.S. outbreak

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The Mexican government said on Wednesday that being left on a list of countries suspected of being the origin for a Salmonella outbreak in the United States was unjustifiable and damaging to its home-grown tomato crop.

The Agriculture and Health Ministries called for a speedy end to a search by U.S. authorities for the source of the outbreak. The U.S. has had 167 reported cases of Salmonella, with 23 people hospitalized.

Mexico says the strain of Salmonella, which has hit New Mexico and Texas hardest, has never been found in Mexico.

"Cases of this type of Salmonella do not exist in our country," the ministries said in a joint communique. "The Mexican tomato industry has shown over many years its commitment to produce food that does not harm people."

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has put northern Florida, Texas and California on a list of states and countries whose tomatoes were not linked to the outbreak. Mexico has yet to be cleared.

The outbreak was detected just as the harvest in Mexico's main grower state, Sinaloa, was starting. Around 84 percent of all tomatoes imported into the United States come from Mexico, its southern neighbor.

"The unjust action of the FDA against Mexican products is causing severe damage to the Mexican tomato industry, on which thousands of jobs depend," the ministries said.

(Reporting by Chris Aspin, Editing by Ian Geoghegan)