Deadly E. coli outbreak traced to bagged spinach

[Gentle Giant]

Sorry folks, have to lay off the spinach for a while. My older daughter will be devastated.


Deadly E. coli outbreak traced to bagged spinach, sickens dozens
By Andrew Bridges, Associated Press Writer | September 15, 2006

WASHINGTON --WASHINGTON (AP) -- Consumers nationwide should not eat fresh bagged spinach, say health officials probing a multistate outbreak of E. coli that killed at least one person and made dozens of others sick.

Food and Drug Administration and state officials don't know the cause of the outbreak, although raw, packaged spinach appears likely. "We're advising people not to eat it," said Dr. David Acheson of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.

Washing the spinach won't solve the problem, because the E. coli bacteria is too tightly attached, another FDA official warned on Friday.

"If you wash it, it is not going to get rid of it," said Robert Brackett, director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Nutrition.

Eight states were reporting a total of 50 cases of E. coli, officials said Thursday.

The death occurred in Wisconsin, where 20 people were reported ill, 11 of them in Milwaukee. The outbreak has sickened others -- eight of them seriously -- in Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, New Mexico, Oregon and Utah. In California, state health officials said they were investigating a possible case there.

The outbreak has affected a mix of ages, but most of the cases have involved women, Acheson said. Further information on the person who died wasn't available.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Wisconsin health officials alerted the FDA about the outbreak at midweek. Preliminary analysis suggested the same bug is responsible for the outbreak in all eight states.

The warning applied to consumers nationwide because of uncertainty over the origin of the tainted spinach and how widely it was distributed. Health officials did not know of any link to a specific growing region, grower, brand or supplier.

"Typically we would try to narrow it down as focused as we could," Brackett said in an interview. "The fact that it was distributed all over the country, the fact that people are getting seriously ill from this, warranted us to have an abundance of caution and just to say 'OK, stop now until we figure out exactly what's going on."'

Brackett noted that most of the spinach crop at this time of the year comes from California. A special effort is under way in the Salinas Valley of California, a major leafy-vegetable growing region, to look for any possible source of contamination there.

Amy Philpott, a spokeswoman for the United Fresh Produce Association, said that it's possible the cause of the outbreak won't be known for some time, even after its source is determined.

"Our industry is very concerned," she said. "We're taking this very seriously."

Reports of infections have been growing by the day, Acheson said. "We may be at the peak, we may not be," he said."

E. coli causes diarrhea, often with bloody stools. Most healthy adults can recover completely within a week, although some people -- including the very young and old -- can develop a form of kidney failure that often leads to death.

Anyone who has gotten sick after eating raw packaged spinach should contact a doctor, officials said.

Other bagged vegetables, including prepackaged salads, apparently are not affected. In general, however, washing all bagged vegetables is recommended. Thorough cooking kills the bacterium.

"We're telling people if they have bagged produce and they feel like it's a risk, throw it out," Michigan Department of Community Health spokesman T.J. Bucholz said. "If they feel like they have to eat it, wash it first in warm water."

E. coli lives in the intestines of cattle and other animals and typically is linked to contamination by fecal material. It causes an estimated 73,000 cases of infection, including 61 deaths, each year in the United States, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Sources of the bacterium include uncooked produce, raw milk, unpasteurized juice, contaminated water and meat, especially undercooked or raw hamburger, the agency says on its Web site.

Last October, the FDA warned people not to eat certain Dole prepackaged salads that were connected to an outbreak of E. coli infections in Minnesota. At least 11 people were sickened.

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On the Net:

CDC E. coli information: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/disea...hiacoli--g.htm

[Chris D]

Very funny. Somebody died, you know.

[Scott Dolan]

Good lord!!!

I think I've got some in my veggie drawer!

[Sherman]

Originally Posted by Chris D

Very funny. Somebody died, you know.

God Daaamn! I've been eating bagged raw spinach all week in my salads.
It's been real nice knowing y’all

My life is finished
cuz I ate bad spinach
I'm Popeye the sailor man!

[Gentle Giant]

Originally Posted by Chris D

Very funny. Somebody died, you know.

Somebody's always dying. Doesn't mean we have to be somber all the time. You have to admit, there's something ironic about the government telling people not to eat spinach. I'm sorry someone died, but as long as it wasn't hundreds or thousands of people, I'm going to indulge my sense of humor.

After all, I yam what I yam.

[Mike Schwartz]

Originally Posted by Sherman

God Daaamn! I've been eating bagged raw spinach all week in my salads.
It's been real nice knowing y’all

My life is finished
cuz I ate bad spinach
I'm Popeye the sailor man!

FYI they're pulling bagged spinich off the shelves from markets in a number of western states, with the focus on the Pacific NW.

[clinthopson]

I've been using the bagged spinsch for a long time. I hever serve it raw (I don't like the taste of raw spinach), I sautee it with a bit of garlic oil in a very hot pan. That will take down them ecoli mothers.

I suppose it can be washed in some of those disinfectant drops that we use with raw stuff in Mexico if raw spinach is your bag.

[hornplayer]

ANY raw vegetable should be well washed before consuming. because mishandling can make anything contaminated... otoh, I find that bagged leafy produce is uniformly less attractive than that which is available in the store "loose." Hard to tell how long some of that bagged stuff has been around!

[steve(thelil)]

I'm Joseph the Lieber Man
I'm Joseph the Lieber Man
I says my baruchas
And don't chase no tuchas
I'm Joseph the Lieber Man

[Gentle Giant]

Originally Posted by steve(thelil)

I'm Joseph the Lieber Man
I'm Joseph the Lieber Man
I says my baruchas
And don't chase no tuchas
I'm Joseph the Lieber Man

My wife makes a tasty baby spinach salad with walnuts, cubes of cheddar, red onions, and a maple syrup vinagerette. I guess we'll hold off for a while.

[hornplayer]

Originally Posted by Gentle Giant

My wife makes a tasty baby spinach salad with walnuts, cubes of cheddar, red onions, and a maple syrup vinagerette. I guess we'll hold off for a while.

That sounds really delicious, GG.. I get MY spinach from a farmer at the greenmarket... so it's okay for me to make that this weekend!

[shrugs]

spinich salad with candied pecans,creole tomatoes and any cubes of lots of various cheeses plus a good vinagrette........

[Monte Smith]

I ate some last week. Like clint, I prefer mine cooked. I sweat it in a bare pan and then toss it with roasted minced garlic and a quarter teaspoon of olive oil. Delicious. Makes a great smear in the pants, too, evidently.

My butt cheeks are pin-iched,
'Coz I et my spinach.
I'm Popeye the Sailor Man!
Toot-toot!

[Dennis Gonzalez]

People are going against the President's plans to scrap Geneva Convention. That's why we have this E. coli outbreak.

Turr'rists! Ba'buryens! They hate our freedom...that's why this outbreak.

Originally Posted by GG

You have to admit, there's something ironic about the government telling people not to eat spinach.

They also told us to have Duct Tape in case of nukular war. Or in case of Spinach outbreak. Duct Taped Spinach is dee-lish!

[shrugs]

spinach and crabmeat in a white sauce wrapped in a fresh crepe......

[shrugs]

how about a warm bacon vinagrette?

[Enforcer]

I love spinach and eat it often. Glad I haven't had any the past few days, though.

[bluenoter]

Tainted spinach traced to California

By ANDREW BRIDGES, Associated Press Writer 41 minutes ago

A California natural foods company was linked Friday to a nationwide E. coli outbreak that has killed one person and sickened nearly 100 others. Supermarkets across the country pulled spinach from shelves, and consumers tossed out the leafy green.

Food and Drug Administration officials said that they had received reports of illness in 19 states.

The outbreak was traced to Natural Selection Foods, based in San Juan Bautista, Calif., and the company has voluntarily recalled products containing spinach.

FDA officials stressed that the bacteria had not been isolated in products sold by Natural Selection Foods but that the link was established by patient accounts of what they had eaten before becoming ill.

An investigation was continuing.

"It is possible that the recall and the information will extend beyond Natural Selection Foods and involve other brands and other companies, at other dates," said Dr. David Acheson, the chief medical officer with the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.

Natural Selection Foods LLC said in a statement that it was cooperating with federal and state health officials to identify the source of the contamination and had stopped shipping all fresh spinach products. They are sold as Rave Spinach, Natural Selection Foods, Dole, Earthbound Farm, Trader Joe's, Ready Pac, Green Harvest, among other brand names.

State health officials received the first reports of illness on Aug. 25, and the FDA was informed on Wednesday, Acheson said.

The FDA warned people nationwide not to eat the spinach. Washing won't get rid of the tenacious bug, though thorough cooking can kill it.

"We're waiting for the all-clear. In the meantime, Popeye the Sailor Man and this family will not be eating bagged spinach," said Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of preventative medicine at Vanderbilt University. The Tennessee university's medical center was treating a 17-year-old Kentucky girl for E. coli infection. That case originally was listed as being from Tennessee, but federal health officials changed it to Kentucky.

Each year, consumers buy hundreds of millions of pounds of bagged spinach — triple-washed and packaged in cellophane bags and clamshell boxes.

"We will do whatever is necessary to help protect the health and safety of the public," Earthbound Farm spokeswoman Samantha Cabaluna said in a statement.

The company said consumers could call 800-690-3200 for a refund or replacement coupons for tossed-out spinach products.

Wisconsin accounted for 29 illnesses, about one-third of the cases, including the lone death.

Other states reporting cases were: California, Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Wisconsin accounted for 29 illnesses, about one-third of the cases, including the lone death. [repetition sic]

"We are telling everyone to get rid of fresh bagged spinach right now. Don't assume anything is over," Gov. Jim Doyle said.

The bug has sickened at least 94 people across the nation, the CDC said. The agency added that 29 people have been hospitalized, 14 of them with kidney failure.

FDA officials said they issued the nationwide consumer alert without waiting to identify the still-unknown source of the tainted spinach.

"Early is good," said Caroline Smith DeWaal, food safety director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, adding that the alert may have prevented hundreds more cases.

An industry spokeswoman said public health concerns justified the blanket warning: "It needed to happen this way," said Kathy Means, a spokeswoman for the Produce Marketing Association. "Public health has to trump economics at this time."

More than half the nation's 500 million-pound spinach crop is grown in California's Monterey County, according to the Agriculture Department.
"We're trying to get to the bottom of this and figure out what happened. Everybody is terribly concerned," said Dave Kranz, a spokesman for the California Farm Bureau Federation.

Even before the latest outbreak, a joint state and federal effort has been under way in the California county to find and eliminate any possible sources of E. coli contamination.

"We need to strive to do even better so even one life is not lost," said Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, FDA's acting commissioner.

The FDA's top food expert stressed the importance of stopping the bacterium at its source, since rinsing spinach won't eliminate the risk. "If you wash it, it is not going to get rid of it," said Robert Brackett, director of the agency's Center for Food Safety and Nutrition.

E. coli lives in the intestines of cattle and other animals and typically is spread through contamination by fecal material. Brackett said the use of manure as a fertilizer for produce typically consumed raw, such as spinach, is not in keeping with good agricultural practices. "It is something we don't want to see," he told a food policy conference.

Meanwhile, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Safeway Inc., SuperValu Inc. and other major grocery chains stopped selling spinach, removing it from shelves and salad bars.

"We pulled everything that we have spinach in," said Dan Brettelle, manager of a Piggly Wiggly store in Columbia, S.C.

Consumer activist Barb Kowalcyk said fixing the nation's "fractured network" of food safety agencies could save lives. In 2001, her 2-year-old son, Kevin, died of E. coli, possibly after eating tainted ground beef.

"How can we improve communication between agencies? That needs to happen," the Loveland, Ohio, resident said.

Not all strains of E. coli cause illness: E. coli O157:H7, the strain involved in the current outbreak, was first recognized as a cause of illness in 1982. That strain causes an estimated 73,000 cases of infection, including 61 deaths, each year in the United States, according to the CDC.

When ingested, the bug can cause diarrhea, often with bloody stools. Most healthy adults can recover completely within a week, although some people — including the very young and old — can develop a form of kidney failure that often leads to death.

Sources of the bacterium include uncooked produce, raw milk, unpasteurized juice, contaminated water and meat, especially undercooked or raw hamburger.

Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press

[Scott Dolan]

Originally Posted by shrugs

spinach and crabmeat in a white sauce wrapped in a fresh crepe......

*salivating*

[Gary Sisco]

You'd have to wash the spinach in hot water with soap to wash e coli off it.

It'd not taste very good after that.

[Ron Thorne]

If you have some bagged spinach, cook it, dammit. Don't waste good food.

Patti and I had lunch at one of our favorite haunts today, and while sitting at the counter, one of the owners brought up this subject. They immediately pulled all fresh spinach out of their restaurant's refrigerators, she took it home and sauteed a big batch in butter, olive oil and garlic as a side dish. There are many ways that spinach can be cooked and be very tasty.

I must say that I really love a good fresh spinach salad, though. Fortunately, we still have fresh local produced from the Matanuska Valley available in our markets. Yes, that Matanuska Valley.

shrugs idea of crab meat, spinach and white sauce tucked into a crepe sounds scrumptious.

[Monte Smith]

I ate out at an Irish pub this evening. Fresh spinach was prominent on the menu, but none was available. The proprietor highly recommended the boiled cabbage. Yes, but does that really go with corned beef?

[Jimmy Cantiello]

Originally Posted by Monte Smith

I ate some last week. Like clint, I prefer mine cooked. I sweat it in a bare pan and then toss it with roasted minced garlic and a quarter teaspoon of olive oil. Delicious. Makes a great smear in the pants, too, evidently.

A quarter teaspoon of olive oil? C'mon, Monte, what's the point of a freakin' quarter teaspoon of olive oil. Chintzy bastard............

[Gary Sisco]

I love the brand name: Natural Selection.

[Scott Dolan]

Hahahaha.................I got a kick out of that too.