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November 2006                                                                            Volume 11 - Number 2

Katrina Recovery...

E. coli Outbreak: Fresh Bagged Spinach Harms Nearly 200 Nationwide
By Daniel Paepke

On September 14, 2006, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advised American consumers to not eat fresh bagged spinach after receiving notice from 19 states that the spinach was tied to an outbreak of Escherichia coli O157:H7, more commonly known as E. coli.  As more reports of E. coli surfaced, the FDA soon warned Americans to avoid eating any fresh spinach.  The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has opened an investigation into the outbreak, but does not believe the spinach was deliberately contaminated.

On September 20, the CDC was able to identify E. coli in an opened package of “Dole Baby Spinach” that was packaged by Natural Selection Foods LLC and found in the refrigerator of a woman who had grown ill in New Mexico.  The strain in that specific bag of spinach was identical to that of the outbreak strain, eventually allowing investigators to determine that the outbreak stemmed from California’s Salinas Valley region.

Upon learning this, Natural Selection Foods LLC, River Ranch Fresh Foods, and RLB Food Distributors, all spinach growers and packagers in the Salinas Valley area, voluntarily recalled all of their spinach products.  Natural Selection Foods LLC is the main company under investigation by the FDA and CDC, as its sells its products under 30 different brand names, most notably Dole, throughout the United States.

The FDA lifted its consumer warning against most fresh bagged spinach on September 29, 2006, but kept the warning for four brands of spinach recalled by Natural Selection Foods LLC with “Best if Used By” dates of August 17 through October 1.  FDA officials stated that these expiration dates make it likely that any spinach tainted with E. coli has worked its way out of the nation’s food supply.  

As of October 6, 2006, 199 persons in 26 states have grown ill and 3 deaths have been directly linked to the outbreak of E. coli.  While most of the states affected by the outbreak had only a small number of E. coli-related illnesses from fresh bagged spinach, Wisconsin was the hardest-hit state with 49 reported illness, or roughly one-quarter of the outbreak’s total illness recorded by the CDC.

Although E. coli is a naturally occurring bacterium that lives in the lower intestines of all mammals, the O157:H7 strain is not endogenous to humans.  This strain of E. coli generally causes bloody diarrhea and dehydration, but some patients can develop kidney failure, leading to serious damage to the kidneys or death.

In a related vein, the Nunes Company, also of Salinas, California, issued a voluntary recall of green leaf lettuce on October 8, 2006 after learning that the water used to irrigate the lettuce plants was contaminated with E. coli O157:H7.  On October 11, the Nunes Company issued a statement saying that multiple samples of recalled green leaf lettuce tested negative for E. coli.  

For more information, please visit http://www.cdc.gov/foodborne/ecolispinach/.