Don't Eat the Spinach...

[Guest]

I know this does not affect most of your diets, LOL, but warn your families and friends...

U.S. expands warning to cover all fresh spinach

Sep 16, 10:22 PM (ET)

By Joel Rothstein

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Consumers should avoid all fresh spinach, regardless of whether it is pre-packaged, a chief U.S. food safety official warned on Saturday, saying the number of E. coli illnesses had passed 100.

"We need to get a clear message to consumers," said Dr. David Acheson, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's director of food safety and security.

"Some consumers may not be aware that spinach that may be available to them may have been pre-packaged," he said referring to loose spinach sold in restaurants and supermarkets.

While the FDA did not expand the warning beyond fresh spinach, Acheson said the investigation into the cause of the illnesses was continuing and other possible sources had not been excluded.

Investigators believe that the spinach was contaminated before it was bagged since more than one bag contained contaminated product, Acheson said on a Saturday evening conference call with reporters.

Since August 2, one person has died and 102 people have fallen ill, including 16 who suffered kidney failure after eating spinach suspected of being contaminated with the E. coli 0157:H7 -- a potentially deadly bacterium that causes bloody diarrhea and dehydration.

Wisconsin health authorities said the E. coli fatality was a 77-year-old woman from Manitowoc who died September 7.

The most recent case in the 19-state outbreak was reported on September 9, Acheson said.

On Friday, Natural Selection Foods LLC/Earthbound Farm, the nation's largest grower of organic produce, voluntarily recalled fresh spinach products sold in the United States, Mexico and Canada after the U.S. government said they could be linked to the worsening outbreak.

Patients infected with the bacterial illness told researchers they had eaten pre-packaged spinach packed by Natural Selection, including some sold under the Dole label, prompting the company to start its recall, Acheson said earlier this week.

Acheson was not able to predict when the warnings would be lifted, saying it would "go on as long as it needs to protect public health."

[res6cue 67]

I actually had a bag of that exact brand in my fridge, and I ate some of it already last week. Obviously I tossed the rest, and I'm not dead so I guess my bag was alright.

[xfirefighter484x 234]

Ya know, one day they tell you something is good for you....the next day....BAM!!! It could kill you.

Or at least make you a little sick.

[Remember585 815]

What does it all this mean for this guy?

[attachmentid=1229]

[Guest]

It means the Big Fella will lose all his muscle mass and will have to go into rehab for a year!!

Probe Finds E. Coli in Spinach Package

Investigators in New Mexico Find E. Coli in a Spinach Package; Could Help in Search for Source

By ANDREW BRIDGES

The Associated Press

September 20, 2006

WASHINGTON - Spinach found in the refrigerator of a person sickened by E. coli was contaminated with the bacteria, providing a break Wednesday for investigators seeking the origin of the outbreak.

Federal and state investigators, meanwhile, narrowed their hunt to to three California counties in the greater Salinas Valley Monterey, San Benito and Santa Clara, said Dr. David Acheson of the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.

"Yesterday we had it down to California. Today we've got it down to three counties," Acheson said, adding: "We want it down to a salad bowl and eventually a spinach leaf."

The package of contaminated Dole baby spinach came from the refrigerator of a patient who ate some of the leafy greens before becoming ill, New Mexico Department of Health officials said. The state is one of 23 reporting food-poisoning cases.

The spinach tested positive for the same strain of E. coli linked to the outbreak, Acheson said. Dole is one of the brands of spinach recalled Friday by Natural Selection Foods LLC, of San Juan Bautista, Calif.

Other bags of fresh spinach recovered elsewhere in the country also were being tested in the investigation.

"It's certainly premature to say only this bag is going to test positive. There are others in the works," Acheson said.

Officials continued to recommend consumers not eat fresh spinach, as the tally of those sickened rose to 146, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One person has died.

Meanwhile, government and industry officials were working on how to allow spinach grown elsewhere in the country back on the market, Acheson said.

Democratic Sens. Robert Menendez and Frank R. Lautenberg, both of New Jersey, pushed the FDA to assure the public spinach grown in their state is safe.

"As the nation's fourth-largest spinach producer, spinach farming is a multimillion-dollar industry for the Garden State," Menendez said. "That is why we are imploring the FDA to move quickly in identifying the source of the infected spinach."

Investigators began visiting farms in the Salinas Valley on Tuesday, seeking signs of past flooding or cases in which contaminated surface areas had come into contact with crops. They also were looking for potential sources of bacteria inside packing plants.

California produces 74 percent of the nation's fresh spinach crop. The Salinas Valley accounts for roughly three-quarters of the state's share, and it has been the focus of the investigation. The area has links to both Natural Selection Foods and a second company that's also recalled fresh spinach products, River Ranch Fresh Foods of Salinas.

Also Wednesday, Arizona and Colorado were added the list of states reporting E. coli cases. The other states are California, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

Wisconsin has reported the most cases, as well as the lone death.

Among those sickened, 71 percent were women. Among those victims who could provide a date, they reported falling sick between Aug. 19 and Sept. 5, according to the CDC.

New Mexico's public health laboratory isolated E. coli from the bag of opened spinach and then completed "DNA fingerprinting" tests late Tuesday. State and federal officials then matched it to the strain of the bacteria E. coli O157:H7 implicated in the outbreak.

On the Net:

FDA E. coli information: http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/spinach.html