SOUTHWEST FLORIDA - The Florida Department of Agriculture estimates the losses to be around $100 million dollars, though they are still tallying those losses right now.

It's money that one local produce company says it needs back to recover.

Farmers Agent Scott Griffin says his company lost $5 million dollars as a result of the tomato scare.

Some growers watched their tomatoes rot on the vine because they couldn't afford to spend money paying to harvest and ship them, knowing there was no one who would want to buy those tomatoes.

Some threw their crops out - others sat in warehouses waiting to be sold.

Griffin had problems with the remaining tomatoes that were harvested
"We struggled to distribute them and at some points we just had to quit," said Griffin.

Griffin says the way The Food and Drug Administration went about their investigation bothers him the most. The Food and Drug Administration originally linked the outbreak that sickened more than 1200 people in 43 states to tomatoes. The FDA announced this week they now believe Mexican grown jalapeño peppers were the culprits.

Griffin told WINK NEWS, "The tomato industry was not innocent until proven guilty. They were guilty from the start and now it comes out that it wasn't tomatoes."

The reprieve for tomatoes comes after growers around the state had to throw out their tomato crops.

"What can you do now - those tomatoes are gone. The money's gone," said Griffin.

The FDA is now saying tomatoes are and always were safe to eat.

As a result of the lost revenues, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson will ask Congress for reimbursement next week. He's scheduled to testify on July, 31st.