Fresh
Spinach May Return to Stores Soon
By Andrew Bridges
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
(AP) - It's safe to eat spinach grown outside California's
Salinas Valley, federal health officials say, and
the leafy greens could return to produce shelves
in a few days.
An ongoing outbreak of E. coli linked to fresh spinach
had sickened 166 people in 25 states through Friday.
That's up from 157 victims in 23 states a day earlier,
according to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
For more than a week, the Food and Drug Administration
has recommend people not eat fresh, raw spinach.
State and federal investigators since have traced
the contaminated spinach back to three California
counties, and already farm inspections there are
turning up possible problems.
On Friday, officials said spinach grown anywhere
outside that area is safe to eat - but industry
needs to figure out how to let consumers know the
origin of what they're buying before the green can
return to sale, said Dr. David Acheson of the FDA's
Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.
"The public can be confident that spinach grown
in those non-implicated areas can be consumed and
industry is working to get spinach from these areas
back on the market,'' Acheson told reporters.
"I anticipate it will be fast,'' he later said
of that process. "Whether it will be three
days, four days - I don't know. That will be an
industry determination.''
Of those infected in the outbreak, 88 have been
hospitalized, including a Wisconsin woman who died.
Two other deaths have been reported in suspected
cases - a child in Idaho and an elderly woman in
Maryland - but those cases are still being investigated.
A team of 20 state and federal investigators on
Friday were to visit the 10th California field associated
with the contaminated spinach, said Mark Roh, the
FDA's acting regional food and drug director for
the Pacific region. Inspectors were looking for
standing water, animal droppings and anything else
unusual, as well as assessing the sanitation practices
of farm workers. They also have taken 188 water,
soil and produce samples from fields and processing
plants.
The team already has spotted some potential problems.
"There are some situations of concern, may
I say, that would warrant some possible corrections
in the near future,'' Roh told reporters by telephone.
When asked to elaborate, a spokeswoman broke in
and said the FDA would not, citing the ongoing nature
of the investigation. The farm and plant inspections
are expected to last another week.
Last week, Natural Selection Foods LLC of San Juan
Bautista, Calif., recalled all its spinach and spinach-containing
products. Many people reported eating the company's
spinach, sold under multiple brands, before falling
sick. And a package of Dole baby spinach, one of
those brands, taken from a victim's refrigerator
tested positive for E. coli.
On Friday, S.T. Produce, based in Seattle, became
the third company to recall salad products that
may have included Natural Selection spinach. The
other two are River Ranch Fresh Foods of Salinas,
Calif., and RLB Food Distributors of West Caldwell,
N.J.
S.T. Produce said its salads were distributed to
stores and delis in Washington state, Oregon, Idaho
and Montana.
States newly reporting cases as of Friday were Maryland,
with three cases, and Tennessee, one.
Other states reporting cases are Arizona, California,
Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana,
Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska,
Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania,
Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
Acheson said the CDC could continue to receive new
reports of illness into the first ...
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