No Cases Reported In Spokane County

Fri., Nov. 1, 1996

Kim Barker, Staff Writer

No cases of E. coli bacterial contamination have been reported in Spokane County since the outbreak of 15 cases reported on the West Side.

The juices, made by Odwalla Inc., a fresh beverage company in Half Moon Bay, Calif., aren’t in many Spokane stores. Fred Meyer stores pulled all Odwalla products off shelves Wednesday night.

“We’re just waiting to hear if there’s any other steps we should take,” said Rob Boley, a spokesman from Fred Meyer headquarters in Portland.

Spokane County epidemiologist Paul Stepak said the last E. coli case in the county was reported about 1-1/2 months ago.

“Thus far we have no cases that we could link to this outbreak,” he said.

He advised anyone who drinks fruit juice products without preservatives or pasteurization to be careful.

“They should realize there may be some degree of increased risk of bacterial contamination,” Stepak said. “One way to reduce that is to heat them.”

, DataTimes

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