California Raised Tomatoes

California is the largest producer of tomatoes in the United States. Most of the tomatoes are machined and processed in a variety of products. 95 percent of the tomatoes in the United States are grown in California. There is 550 different types of tomatoes in California. 90 percent are grown in the California Central Valley area. The other 5 percent are grown in the Sacramento Valley area.

California has 40,000 acres for growing tomatoes that are either market fresh tomatoes that are hand picked or machined tomatoes. Machined tomatoes are used in salsa, tomato paste, ketchup, whole canned tomatoes, and tomato juice. The fresh market kind are picked and sold to retailers for fresh tomatoes.

The top export to other countries from tomatoes is Canada, South Korea, Italy, Mexico, and Japan. About half of it goes to the north in Canada. Pastes, canned tomatoes, ketchup, and tomato sauces are the largest export items to these countries. Sun dried tomatoes is anther product that California produces from the tomatoes.

In June 2008 there was a salmonella outbreak that halted the sale of tomatoes. The first to start using tomatoes again after this scare was the Subway chain, the biggest user of tomatoes in the United States. They found the cause of the salmonella scare or outbreak and it was not the California tomatoes. This scare was cleared just about the time of the harvest of tomatoes in California.