Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
On September 20, the FDA issued an updated press release, advising consumers
to continue to avoid consuming fresh spinach or products containing fresh spinach.
They added, however, that it was safe to eat frozen spinach, canned spinach,
and spinach included in premade meals manufactured by food companies. In addi-
tion, DNA fi ngerprinting had linked a sample from a package of Dole Baby Spinach
with the outbreak strain of
E. coli
O157:H7 (U.S. Food and Drug Administration
2006c ).
The following day, the FDA issued a statement that they were working closely with
the CDC and the State of California and had determined that the spinach implicated
in the outbreak had been grown in Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Clara counties in
California. The FDA stated that produce other than spinach grown in these counties
had not been implicated in the outbreak; however, they were equally clear that the
advisory against eating spinach was still in effect (U.S. Food and Drug Administration
2006d ).
On September 22, the FDA issued a statement that, “The public can be confi dent
that spinach grown in the nonimplicated areas can be consumed.” They added that
“industry is working to get spinach from areas not implicated in the current
E. coli
O157:H7 outbreak back on the market” (U.S. Food and Drug Administration 2006e),
suggesting that the incident was over.
At a press conference a little more than a week later, on September 30, FDA offi cial
David Acheson attempted to provide additional closure to the event by saying, “Based
on where we are at this point in the investigation, spinach is as safe as it was before
this event” (Shin 2006). However, as late as October 6, the FDA continued to proceed
with caution, issuing press releases reminding retailers, food-service operators and
consumers that they should not sell or consume raw spinach or blends that might
contain spinach that was “the subject of the earlier recalls” (U.S. Food and Drug
Administration 2006f ).
In total, 205 people in 26 states were reported to the CDC as having been infected
with the outbreak strain of
E. coli
O157:H7 (U.S. Food and Drug Administration
2007b). As a result of eating the contaminated spinach, more than 100 people were
hospitalized, 31 developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, which can result in kidney
failure, and 3 people died (U.S. Food and Drug Administration 2006f).
There remains considerable ambiguity concerning the vector responsible for the
presence of the
E. coli
on the contaminated spinach. Investigators were able to identify
13 bags of baby spinach manufactured by Natural Selections Foods for the Dole™
Brand. Product codes were found for 11 of these bags, all bearing the product codes
beginning with “P227A,” indicating that they had been packed on August 15, 2006
(California Food Emergency Response Team 2007).
A genetic match for the particular strain of
E. coli
O157:H7 responsible for making
some people sick was found in samples taken from a stream and from feces of cattle
and wild pigs present on ranches implicated in the outbreak (Brackett 2006).
Investigators were also able to match environmental samples of
E. coli
O157:H7 from
one specifi c fi eld to the strain that had caused the outbreak (California Food Emergency
Response Team 2007). However, in releasing its fi nal report on the 2006 outbreak,
the FDA concluded “the precise means by which the bacteria spread to the spinach
remains unknown” (U.S. Food and Drug Administration 2007b).
