Thursday, September 21, 2006

The Smoking Spinach Bag

Via ProMED-mail: The AP reports that health officials have pinned the E. coli outbreak on the prime suspect, spinach from the Salinas Valley.

A bag of tainted Dole baby spinach found in the refrigerator of a New Mexico patient was a "smoking gun" that allowed investigators to zero in on farms in the Salinas Valley.
The spinach tested positive for the same strain of E. coli linked to the outbreak. Dole is one of the brands of spinach recalled late last week by Natural Selection Foods LLC of San Juan Bautista, California.

Friday, September 15, 2006

Spinach Recall

I saw them taking away the bagged spinach at Whole Foods today. See the New York Times article or the FDA warning against bagged spinach:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is issuing an alert to consumers about an outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 in multiple states that may be associated with the consumption of produce. To date, preliminary epidemiological evidence suggests that bagged fresh spinach may be a possible cause of this outbreak.
Based on the current information, FDA advises that consumers not eat bagged fresh spinach at this time. Individuals who believe they may have experienced symptoms of illness after consuming bagged spinach are urged to contact their health care provider.