E. coli detected near California spinach fields

WASHINGTON – Investigators found E. coli in cattle feces near Salinas Valley spinach fields that matches the strain of the bacteria that sickened 200 people and killed at least three – a major discovery in the nearly two-month search for the cause of the outbreak.

The fecal samples were found within a mile of spinach fields, on a farm with both beef cattle and produce operations, Kevin Reilly, a California food safety official, said Thursday.

Investigators are turning their attention to how the deadly bacteria could have gotten into spinach crops. Theories include contaminated irrigation water, poor worker hygiene, and wild pigs running through pastures and into the spinach fields.

“We do not have a smoking cow at this point, no,” Reilly said.

Reilly was careful to say that Thursday’s finding does not mean that investigators found the source of the outbreak. Over the past several weeks, investigators have collected more then 650 specimens of soil, water, plants and feces, and they are still testing for E. coli. Officials have not ruled out other sources of contamination.

The California and federal health officials conducting the investigation have narrowed its focus from 12 fields on nine farms to four fields on four farms, Reilly said. The growers that operate the four implicated fields, in Monterey and San Benito counties, have stopped growing ready-to-eat produce on those fields.

Though last month’s E. coli outbreak was the 20th in 10 years linked to leafy greens and the ninth traced to the Salinas Valley, investigators have never found a specific source of contamination, which made Thursday’s finding unusual.

“This is a significant finding because it’s the first time we’ve linked a spinach or lettuce E. coli … outbreak to test results from a specific ranch in the Salinas Valley,” Reilly said.

E. coli O157:H7 is an especially toxic form of E. coli, which can cause bloody stool, kidney failure and death.

Knowing the precise source of the outbreak could help regulators and farmers come up with more effective ways to prevent contamination, food safety experts said.

The produce company that processed and packaged the spinach at the center of the outbreak investigation has repeatedly asserted its factories are blameless and pointed to the fields where the greens are grown as the potential source of the problem.

“This definitely reinforces our belief that the source was environmental,” said Samantha Cabaluna, a spokeswoman for Natural Selection Foods LLC.

About two weeks ago, after the investigation was narrowed to nine Salinas Valley farms, FDA officials said any fresh spinach that wasn’t recalled was safe to eat again.