Troubled by the tainted tomatoes fear, almost half of all Americans, may be ill from eating contaminated food and should be avoided goods which would normally buy an Associated Press-Ipsos poll found.

Although three out of four remain confident about the safety of food, the survey showed that consumers overwhelmingly support the establishment of a system to trace produce during the first outbreak of salmonella linked to tomatoes and hot peppers now.

Eighty percent said, six produce should be labeled, it may be pursued through layers of processors, shippers and packers, all the way back to the farm. The absence of such a system frustrated disease detectives working on the salmonella outbreak. Although federal officials lifted the warning tomatoes 24th July the cause of the outbreak remains unknown.

The survey showed that 80 percent of Americans said they would support new federal standards for fresh produce. Meat and poultry have long been subject to enforce federal guarantees, but fruit and vegetables are not, although more and more will produce the eruptions.

Christy Taylor, a first-class teacher from Sacramento, California, said she has all but abandoned supermarket produce and buys most of its fresh fruits and vegetables on the local farmers market.

“I see the same farmers each week,” said Taylor, 30, mother of 2-year-old twin girls. “You meet people and you see where the (production).”

Their twins love tomatoes, she said, and chomp on them, as if they were apples. But the mystery of the tainted tomatoes resolved, “I feel a little more comfort, a little more secure, does the local farmers market,” said Taylor.

In addition to the salmonella outbreak this year has seen the largest meat recall in history, the increase of the consumer concerns included in the survey.

Forty-six percent said they were concerned that they could be sick from eating contaminated food and food that they have avoided because of the safety warnings that they normally would have bought it. Twenty-nine percent have discarded food earlier than usual and 14 percent have returned to the store food.

Such a degree of unease among consumers is “very important,” said Michael R. Taylor, a former senior federal food safety official, now teaches at George Washington University.

“When you have almost half the population to avoid certain foods because of safety concerns, this is very important from the perspective of the economic impact for the people selling the food, and from the perspective of peace of mind for consumers,” said Taylor. Tomato breeders say they have lost more than 100 million U.S. dollars as a result of the current salmonella outbreak that has sickened more than 1,200 people in 42 states since April.

The survey also found gender, racial and economic gaps in attitudes about food safety. Women, most of the shopping streets, were more affected than men. For example, 39 percent of men said they were “very confident” that the food they buy is safe, but only 23 percent of women said they felt that way. However, men and women agreed on the need for better supervision of the federal government.

“We have to protect our food supply,” said Stephan Weiss, 58, West Linn, Ore..,, Is a small engraving and embroidery. “And if more inspectors are to prevent people from sick and dying, so it’s worth it.”

People with lower incomes were less confident in the field of food safety, such as minorities. Almost half of Hispanics had little or no confidence in the safety of foods they buy.

In Congress, a leading advocate of food safety reforms, said the industry would do well to listen to consumers about the need for prosecution.

“We live in an age of technology, where bar-code a banana,” said Senator Richard Durbin, D-IL. “We have to work through this industry and something that is sensible. The more the confidence of consumers, the more goods they buy.”

While the production of industrial agrees that federal standards for preventing contamination are required, there is no consensus on a mandatory tracing system. COST is a concern, especially for smaller companies.

The survey also found that 56 percent of consumers do not believe the government has enough inspectors to check food imports. If more are needed for imports and domestic production, 70 percent said the costs should be borne by fees for the industry. The echo of a proposal by Rep. John Dingell, D-MI, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

The telephone survey of 1,000 adults was 10-14 July and has a sampling error margin of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points for the entire sample.