A failure by government agencies to coordinate their investigation into a U.S. salmonella outbreak may have put the public at risk and caused needless harm to the tomato industry, according to a report.

The report, released today by the Produce Safety Project, an initiative of the Pew Charitable Trusts at Georgetown University, also questioned why U.S. officials maintained "so steadfastly and for so long" that tomatoes were the leading suspect in the outbreak. The project advocates mandatory safety standards for fresh produce.

Salmonella sickened more than 1,400 people from April through August -- the largest outbreak of food poisoning in a decade. Health officials initially cited tomatoes as a cause. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a U.S. agency in Atlanta, later said tainted jalapeno peppers were a "major" cause, serrano peppers contributed, and tomatoes may have caused some illnesses, especially early in the outbreak.

A lack of coordination and communication "may well have resulted in a public-health response that was ineffective in protecting the public and caused significant unnecessary harm to the tomato industry," according to the report.

Communication to the public about the outbreak was "disjointed and confusing," according to the report. Two federal agencies and three state agencies announced the outbreak of illnesses over four days "with significant variations in facts and messages," the report found.

Complete Disclosure

The report called for an examination of how quickly information was shared among local, state and federal officials, and whether they fully disclosed relevant information to one another.

The outbreak shows the need for safety standards, which can be created by the Food and Drug Administration, according to the report.

The report also said the FDA's consumer advisory to limit consumption of certain types of fresh tomatoes, announced in June, didn't appear to have a significant impact on the number of illnesses. That should have caused health official to question whether their warnings came too late or whether other products were to blame, the report said.

Michael Herndon, a spokesman for the FDA, said in an e-mail that he was trying to get an agency comment on the report. Lola Russell, a spokeswoman for the CDC, pointed to congressional testimony.

During hearings before Congress, representatives of both agencies defended their handling of the outbreak, saying there was initially evidence that tomatoes were to blame. Tomatoes contaminated with salmonella were never found, though health officials said they couldn't be ruled out as a cause.