Fresh spinach warning widens
SAN JUAN BAUTISTA, Calif. – As the number of people sickened in a nationwide E. coli outbreak pushed past 100, federal officials on Saturday expanded an earlier warning against eating bagged spinach to include all fresh spinach and any product containing the raw greens.
“What we need to do is get a clear message to consumers,” said Dr. David Acheson, chief medical officer of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s food safety branch. “The best thing … is to simplify it.”
Although the illnesses thus far appear to have been linked to packaged fresh spinach, health officials worried that consumers might not be aware whether spinach in their sandwiches and salads came from a bag. Acheson said that the recommendation will hold “as long as it needs to to protect public health.”
The precaution, which does not apply to frozen greens, added to the woes of the nation’s fresh spinach industry, which is centered in California. Even before the expanded warning was issued, Daniel Sumner, a University of California, Davis, agricultural economist, estimated that the crisis could cost the state’s industry between $50 million and $100 million.
Growers were jolted by the FDA’s move. “That pretty much eliminates the spinach crop for the time being,” said Bob Perkins, executive director of the Monterey Farm Bureau. Still, he said, “Better safe than sorry.”
Investigators continued their investivation Saturday of a sprawling farming business in San Juan Bautista that late last week was tentatively linked to some of the 102 cases reported in 19 states – including Washington and Idaho – since Aug. 2. The virulent strain O157:H7 has killed one person, a 77-year-old woman from Wisconsin, and has left at least 16 with a serious condition that can cause kidney failure.
State health officials were at the headquarters of Natural Selection Foods, also known as Earthbound Farm, combing through records and inspecting its 26,000-acre operation. The privately held business, which describes itself as the largest producer of organic produce in North America, on Friday recalled all of its prepackaged fresh spinach, sold under 31 brand names including Dole Food Co,. Pride of San Juan, Emeril and Trader Joe’s.
The company has previously said that its organic produce alone was available in nearly three-quarters of the nation’s supermarkets. Chains have hastened to pull the produce from their shelves, including, as of late Saturday, the fresh unpackaged variety.
Disease investigators suspect Natural Selection-packaged spinach in the outbreak because many of those sickened apparently ate it. However, no E. coli has been found in a bag of the company’s spinach, and health officials have said it is possible that other growers or processors could be implicated.
The precise cause of the contamination by E. coli, which is present in cow manure, is a mystery, though theories include flooding, droppings from birds who have ingested the manure or workers with the bacteria on their hands or clothes. Although E. coli can be killed if produce is boiled, health officials erred on the safe side by recommending avoidance of fresh spinach altogether. The virulent strain implicated in the current outbreak causes symptoms including bloody diarrhea and severe cramping.
Natural Selection officials, while going forward with the recall of its packaged fresh spinach, defended their operations.
“Quality and food safety have been the centerpiece of our business, and we pride ourselves on the high standards we have set and the great care we take in the handling of all the product that comes through our facilities,” said Charles Sweat, chief operating officer of Natural Selection Foods, in a statement.
On its Web site, the company says its farming techniques allow it to avoid the use of millions of pounds of synthetic fertilizer and toxic pesticides.