Juliana Barbassa of the Associated Press interviewed fresh produce suppliers and the families of victims of the E. coli O157:H7 outbreak traced to contaminated spinach.
Samantha Cabaluna, a spokeswoman from Natural Selection Foods, said "We've completely overhauled the way we test and package greens. Regardless of the source or method of contamination, we're better prepared to catch it."
In response to a nationwide E. coli O157:H7 outbreak traced to contaminated spinach, produce industry leaders held a recent meeting to address industry concerns and to discuss what is likely impending legislation if the industry does not find a solution to produce contamination soon.
According to the Capital Press, Dr. Robert Brackett, director of Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said the recent E. coli outbreak linked to fresh spinach from a Salinas Valley processor demonstrates the need for the produce industry to take food safety seriously.
He said the outbreak, which sickened nearly 200 and killed three, has cost $17 million in public health costs. He advised the industry to work together to strengthen food safety standards as a way to rebuild consumer confidence in fresh produce.
A lawsuit was filed today on behalf of the estate of Ruby Trautz, an 81-year-old Nebraska resident who died on August 31, 2006, after suffering complications of an E. coli O157:H7 infection traced to contaminated spinach.
The lawsuit was filed by Marler Clark, the Seattle law firm with a national reputation for the successful representation of victims of foodborne illnesses, and Berry & Kelly, a respected Lincoln, Nebraska, law firm. “John Doe Farms” is named as a defendant, along with Dole Food Company, Natural Selections Foods, and No Frills Supermarkets.
“FDA owes it to the American public, and to the victims of this outbreak in particular, to release information as to the identity of the spinach farm. This far into the outbreak investigation, FDA should already have named the farm where the spinach came from,” said attorney Bill Marler. “We included John Doe Farms as a defendant to try to get more answers for our clients.”
This latest lawsuit is the eighth filed by Marler Clark on behalf of victims of the spinach E. coli outbreak. The firm has filed lawsuits on behalf of residents of Maryland, Wisconsin, Oregon, Michigan, Utah, and New York, but this is the first time the firm has named the retail outlet where the victims purchased the spinach and the farm where the spinach was grown.
The Associated Press is reporting that a five-yearold Madison County, Kentucky, child is hospitalized at Kentucky Children's Hospital with complications of an E. coli O157:H7 infection.
Haley Caldwell is on a ventilator. Her 18-month-old sister was also ill with an E. coli infection, and was hospitalized at Lexington Hospital, but has since recovered.
The Associated Press reported today that FDA and California Department of Health investigators believe they have found three potential sources of the spinach E. coli outbreak: Wild pigs, cattle, and contaminated water.
Samples taken from a wild pig, as well as from stream water and cattle on the ranch, have tested positive for the same strain of E. coli implicated in the outbreak. Investigators are looking at three other ranches in the areas in seeking the source of the contaminated fresh spinach.
California State Senator Dean Florez, who held a hearing on the spinach outbreak, said he plans to introduce bills in December to add a half-dozen new state regulations related to growing and packaging food, including how fields can be irrigated safely.
“We're going to focus in on the water,'' said Florez. ``We'll also work on better worker conditions, in terms of the equipment they use in the fields.''
Florez's proposal, among other actions, would allow farmers following organic practices to use more chlorine to disinfect their vegetables than is currently permitted under labeling standards for so-called organic foods.
CBS 11 TV in Dallas reported that David Corbin, an executive at Forth Worth-based Sadex Corporation, recently ate a E. coli-contaminated spinach that had been irradiated.
An FDA spokesman said the agency actively works on petitions by the Food Processors Association to use irradiation for ready-to-eat foods and does not discuss open petitions.
Mr. Corbin's stunt was designed to create interest in and promote irradiation technology, which effectively eliminates E. coli and other pathogens from food. But the article says it is important to remember that E. coli comes from fecal contamination and irradiated feces is still feces.
Milwaukee NBC affiliate, TMJ4, reported on their investigation into whether spinach now on the shelves in Wisconsin supermarkets is safe and free of pathogenic bacteria.
The investigation did not uncover any E. coli or other bacteria on spinach sampled from Milwaukee stores, but consumers are still skeptical about whether they should eat bagged spinach and lettuce from California's Salinas Valley.
The food industry and Dr. G. Richard Olds from the Medical College of Wisconsin both assert that spinach and other vegetables are safe to eat. However, with the number of E. coli outbreaks traced to produce in recent years, consumers are still concerned.
Ellen Kanner with the Sun-Herald points out that fresh produce may not always be stored below 41 degrees fahrenheit to prevent spoilage and the growth of pathogenic bacteria, the outbreak problem is not the temperature at which fresh produce is stored. It is that produce is contaminated in the first place.
While the CDC, FDA, and the produce industry are working to curb outbreaks, consumers cannot prevent their fresh produce from being contaminated just by properly refrigerating. Produce destined for consumers' plates needs to reach them without pathogenic bacteria already present.
Investigators have identified a possible source - tainted cow manure from a neighboring pasture. How the manure got to the spinach fields isn't clear. Other possible causes are still being explored, from tainted irrigation water to errors made in processing. Some experts claim bagging produce keeps bacteria at bay, but others assert it creates a greenhouse effect when produce isn't kept at optimum conditions.
Supermarkets try to keep their refrigerator cases at 41, but often the temperature goes higher. It goes far above 41 on kitchen counters, where we trust the fresh produce we've just bought will be safe if we leave it out for a bit. At room temperature, bacteria proliferate.
The Chetek Alert reports that Barron County health officials believe that people who became ill with E. coli infections may have become ill after eating at a fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity.
Barron County Health Officer Kaye Thompson and Randy Wilson, Barron County Sanitarian, are asking that any person that participated in the fund-raising dinner and is experiencing symptoms such as diarrhea, abdominal cramps, vomiting or fever to contact the Barron County Department of Health and Human Services and to see a physician.
E. coli O157:H7 infections can lead to complications called hemolytic uremic syndrome and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, which can lead to acute kidney failure, central nervous system damage, and impairment of other major organs.
The Redding, California, newspaper has reported that another California resident has been confirmed to be ill with the same strain of E. coli O157:H7 as that which was recalled by Natural Selections Foods.
Shasta County Public Health officials confirmed the illness as part of the outbreak, but would not disclose the outlet where the victim purchased and consumed the spinach. Dr. Lou Anne Cummings, Shasta County Public Health deputy health officer, said the patient had eaten at two restaurants that may have received shipments of the contaminated spinach.
Both restaurants had been following all proper rules and procedures, and the contaminated spinach has been removed, limiting the spread of the virulent bacteria.
HometownAnnapolis.com reports that Maryland health officials have confirmed two more E. coli O157:H7 cases as having the same genetic fingerprint as the strain of E. coli linked to the spinach outbreak.
Maryland's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's announcement also addressed the death of June Dunning, an elderly woman from Haggerstown. Seattle law firm Marler-Clark has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Dunning family.
Neither child in the most recent cases was hospitalized, said health department spokesman John Hammond.
A reader of the Suburban Chicago News Web site asks, "There has been a lot in the news about E. coli in food lately. What is it? How do I know if I have consumed a food product that is infected with E. coli?"
E. coli is a common type of bacteria. It is short for the medical term Escherichia coli, which normally lives inside our intestines, where it helps the body break down and digest the food we eat. Most of the hundreds of types, or strains, of E. coli live harmlessly in the digestive tracts of humans and animals.
There are some strains however that produce a powerful toxin that causes bloody diarrhea and occasionally can cause severe blood problems and kidney failure, called hemolytic uremic syndrome.
A ConsumerMan report on MSNBC points to the fact that some infected individuals are still in the hospital, including Marler-Clark client Suzanne Bandy of Ramsey, Illinois.
The article raises the question about who is accountable for the outbreak - is it the spinach famers? Is it government agencies? Who had the most ability to prevent the article in the first place? The ConsumerMan quotes Jean Holleran, a spokeswoman at Consumers Union, who said she tells individuals with a weakened immune system “to consider just eating cooked vegetables,” since we cannot guarantee the safety of fresh fruits and vegetables.
The article draws attention to the responsibilities of different organizations throughout the food chain. The bottom line, the article says, is that if consumers must be encouraged to eat only cooked produce there is a problem with the food safety system.
While farmers across the country have been hurt financially by this outbreak, the impacts of E. coli can last for longer than days, weeks, or months - but for lifetimes of the victims.
KSDK TV in St. Louis reported today on the raw milk debate.
Purchasers and producers of raw milk believe drinking unpasteurized milk enhances their health. Public health officials believe the risks of drinking raw milk and contracting potentially fatal illnesses such as E. coli O157:H7 and Campylobacter infections are too high, and that people should not consume raw milk. As reported on the news:
“Raw milk, advocates say, is healthier than pasteurized. Louis Pasteur invented the process to heat milk to 161 degrees for 15 seconds to kill harmful bacteria. But raw milk proponents say the process kills good bacteria.
However, there's another side to this story from health officials, who say they would never drink raw milk.
St. Louis City Health Director Dr. William Kincaid says raw milk is potentially full of bad things, like listeria, E. coli and even tuberculosis. Kincaid says he would absolutely not drink raw milk.”
Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University, she asserts that the latest E. coli outbreak traced to fresh produce from the Salinas Valley was preventable and predictable and that having a single federal agency in charge of food safety is part of the solution to preventing outbreaks in the future. She tells NPR:
“For anyone who tracks the arcane politics of food safety in the United States, this outbreak was entirely predictable. Since 1998, the Food and Drug Administration has repeatedly warned producers of fresh fruit and vegetables about the dangers of E. coli 0157:H7 and the need for measures to keep potential sources of these bacteria well away from their crops.
In 2004, the FDA issued a plan for preventive steps that it fully expected vegetable producers to follow. But last year the agency complained that its long efforts to engage the lettuce industry ``have not yet resulted in a comprehensive, collaborative plan to address the issue of E. coli 0157:H7.'' The FDA then warned growers to get busy and fix the problem.
This August -- too late to prevent the current outbreak -- the agency extended this warning to spinach producers. The futility of the FDA's increasingly urgent pleas reflects the huge gaps in the nation's century-old and highly dysfunctional food safety system.”
The Baltimore Channel is reporting that Maryland has confirmed the state's fifth E. coli O157:H7 illness traced to contaminated spinach.
John Hammond, a spokesman for the state health department, said two more suspected Maryland cases are pending, including that of an elderly resident who died.
The state agency hasn't identified that person, but family members sait it was June E. Dunning, 86, of Hagerstown, who died Sept. 13 of an E. coli complication.
Marler Clark has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the family of Mrs. Dunning last week. The lawsuit was filed against Dole and Natural Selections.
The USDA announced today that Omaha Beef Company, a Danbury, Connecticut, firm, is voluntarily recalling approximately 1,680 pounds of ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7.
E. coli O157:H7 is the same bacterium that was found to be the source of an outbreak among people who ate contaminated spinach in August and September and became ill.
The products subject to recall include:
Recent E. coli outbreaks caused by contaminated produce have caused some tech designers to question how technology might be used to I.D. fruit and vegetables, and provide a clearer trace route for future incidents.
A post at BoingBoing.com highlights the possibility of developing technologies to aid in the trace-back of potentially contamianted fruits and vegetables.
Former Nebraska Chief Medical Officer and current USDA Undersecretary for Food Safety Dr. Richard Raymond proposed a system of "virtual" meat inspections, with a focus on more frequent inspections at meat plants with poor safety records.
Currently, inspectors are assigned to a specific facility or to regularly patrol several smaller plants, according to the Omaha World-Herald.
Raymond’s method involves an automated system, which generates a schedule of the inspectors' weekly tasks -- ensuring that a plant is clean, checking the temperature of its ovens and refrigerators and reviewing its anti-contamination measures.
If significant problems develop at a particular plant, additional inspections can be done. But on a day-to-day basis, the system aims to create a uniform level of inspection without regard to a facility's history or the safety measures it uses.
Under the proposed risk-based system, plants would receive a risk rating based on the types of products they handle, safety measures they have in place and their track records.
Plants deemed to present a high risk would receive more intensive inspections while those with low risk would receive more cursory examinations.
The new system proposed by Dr. Raymond is controversial, and consumer groups like the Consumer Federation of America are encouraging the USDA to conduct a pilot study of the new inspection system before fully implementing it.
In a recent opinion piece in the Salt Lake Tribune, Hope Ferdowsian of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine writes about the source of E. coli contamination in fresh produce.
She points out that, "While news coverage has focused on the contamination of spinach and lettuce, not enough attention has been paid to one key source of E. coli: animal manure. E. coli 0157:H7 is naturally found in the intestines of cattle and some other animals. When livestock farms or 'concentrated feeding operations' foul groundwater or irrigation water, or a food handler with unwashed hands passes along his or her animal-borne infection, fruits and vegetables can become contaminated."
The San Francisco Gate reports that the strain of E. coli O157:H7 isolated from case-patients and bags of spinach during the most recent E. coli outbreak is more virulent than other strains of E. coli O157:H7.
Health officials are working to determine why this particular strain seems to have caused a more severe illness in individuals who consumed contaminated spinach, and whether the molecular make-up of this strain of E. coli differs from other strains of E. coli O157:H7.
Peter Gerner-Schmidt, a scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who is investigating the outbreak, agrees that that this strain is probably a more dangerous strain than others. Research is under way to figure out why.
The Mexican government has said it will lift its weeks-old ban on lettuce imports from California.
The decision comes after the US Department of Agriculture reported that its tests on California-grown lettuce and the irrigation water used on the state’s lettuce fields for the E. coli bacteria had come back negative, according to the CalTrade Report.
The ban came as a reaction to a recall of more than 8,500 cartons of lettuce grown on a farm in California's Salinas Valley, after irrigation water tested positive for E. coli.
The US Food and Drug Administration has reported that the five fields involved were no longer in use and their crops had been destroyed.
Mea Andrews, a reporter for the Missoulian, recapped an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak that occurred in Missoula, Montana, in 1995 in a recent article.
The culprit was never fully pinned down, but it was most likely leaf lettuce. In fact, the Missoula cases were believed to be the first reported community outbreak of E. coli 0157:H7 associated with eating lettuce, according to a wrap-up article in The Journal of Infectious Diseases in 1998.
Two possible sources came to the forefront: Several lettuce farms in Washington state that were located near each other, or a local lettuce-growing operation that supplied Missoula-area restaurants and stores.
Most likely, the lettuce from the Montana farm, never identified, was the source of the outbreak. How the lettuce was contaminated also was never established. Four possibilities were discussed:
The Associated Press reports that there are four confirmed cases of E. coli O157:H7 traced to contaminated spinach in Illinois.
A spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Public Health says the woman was reported to be mildly ill. Spinach from her household tested positive for the strain of E-coli linked to the national outbreak that began last month.
The child became ill in late September but has since recovered.
An article in The Oklahoman reports how E. coli O157:H7 infection and its complication, HUS can affect families.
All but one member of the Schulz family became ill with E. coli. Two-year-old Eliza is still hospitalized at Children's Hospital at the Oklahoma University Medical Center, undergoing kidney dialysis.
Eliza's parents believe their family is part of the E. coli outbreak traced to contaminated spinach, but health officials have been unable to confirm their suspicions.
Natural Selections, the company whose produce was tied to a deadly E. coli outbreak in August and September, has laid off 164 workers, according to a story in the Monterey Herald.
The layoffs included 48 year-round employees, including eight sales people and 40 processing plant workers. The company still will have 1,012 employees and remains the largest employer in San Benito County.
Until the spinach crisis, Natural Selection Foods was increasing its work force in "a pretty aggressive growth mode" and had planned to buy Pride of San Juan's processing facilities.
Other plants have laid off workers or filed for bankruptcy as a result of the drop in spinach sales after the E. coli outbreak was traced to bagged spinach.
Jeff LeJeune, a microbiologist with Ohio State University's Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, is leading a new research project aimed at determining the processes that impact growth and survival of E. coli O157 (the strain involved in the spinach outbreak) on and in vegetables.
LeJeune hope that he will be able to develop practical knowledge that could lead to new ways to reduce bacterial contamination in the produce that people are so encouraged to eat every day. The project includes an outreach component aimed at delivering educational programs that vegetable growers need to improve food safety.
Other collaborators in the project -- funded at more than $600,000 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service -- are the College of Wooster and Michigan State University.
Regardless of the source of contamination in the field, LeJeune explained, E. coli finds a way to survive and reproduce on the surface of vegetables -- and even worse, inside the plant tissue, where it cannot be washed off or killed by disinfectants. LeJeune and colleagues propose that the interaction between E. coli O157 and plant pathogens results in increased E. coli uptake, proliferation, exchange of antibiotic resistance genes, and protection from post-harvest disinfection.
In other words, if vegetables are under siege by plant diseases and become tainted with E. coli, the nasty foodborne bacteria will have a better chance of surviving and multiplying in our next fresh salad -- and it will be harder, if not impossible, to get rid of it.
Specifically, LeJeune and colleagues are trying to prove the following hypotheses:
Fox 28 out of South Bend, Indiana reported today that spinach processor ReadyPac, from nearby Michiana, will likely lay off over 200 workers who bag produce like spinach, lettuce and mixed salads.
More proof that this outbreak didn't just impact spinach growers from the Salinas Valley comes from a report in the Orlando Sentinel, which ran an article on AP Military Group, a company that filed for bankruptcy after its sales to the US military dropped off during the outbreak and its aftermath:
AP Military Group, a Palm Bay broker that helps supply salads for military families across the globe, said in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in Orlando that its sales were dramatically impacted by last month's recall of spinach after an outbreak of E. coli was linked to the vegetable.
Elizabeth Green, an attorney representing AP Military, said the broker sustained up to a 50 percent decline in revenue after the Food and Drug Administration started advising consumers not to consume bagged spinach in mid-September.
The Lincoln Journal-Star reports that a small child from Lincoln has been ill with an E. coli O157:H7 infection since the 4th of July.
Children can suffer various ailments when they become ill with E. coli. One of the worst conditions, hemolytic uremic syndrome, is a debilitating complication of E. coli O157:H7 infection that can lead to kidney failure, central nervous system impairment, and damage to organs such as the liver, heart, and lungs.
This latest E. coli outbreak linked to E. coli-contaminated spinach will leave many children with life-long complications from HUS.
A team of scientists from UC Davis will begin a four-year study of the sources of E. coli O157:H7 contamination in the Salinas Valley before the end of the yar, according to an univeristy press release. The USDA and UC Davis have been planning the study, which is funded with a $1.2 million grant from the USDA, for four years.
This study was designed before the late summer 2006 outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 associated with spinach. Several previous outbreaks of the virulent bacteria were associated with contaminated Salinas Valley lettuce.
In the first two years of the study, crews will collect thousands of samples of domestic animal and wildlife droppings; creek, ditch and irrigation water; farm soil and lettuce growing on Salinas Valley farms. The data collected in the field will be carefully analyzed to identify the vertebrates that are sources of E. coli O157:H7, assess the climate, landscape attributes and irrigation management practices that are correlated with increased risk of contamination, and determine whether contaminated lettuce is associated with certain farming practices or environmental factors.
The Produce News reports that the health department of the government of Mexico, in an official memorandum dated Oct. 9, announced an immediate halt on the importation of all fresh lettuce from the United States including bulk lettuce and fresh salads containing lettuce, an action that baffled many in the U.S. produce industry.
The memo, which was written in Spanish and which originated from office of the Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks, noted that "this Sanitary Authority has knowledge" that "irrigation water used in the lettuce production fields in the Salinas Valley of California is contaminated with the bacteria E. coli." The memo stated that the ban was a precaution intended to minimize the risk to public health while "the source of contamination" was being identified.
Washington State legislators are looking into the possibility of banning raw milk.
However, some worry that banning raw milk altogether and making the sale of raw milk illegal will move sales of unpasteurized milk to an underground sales ring, where there would be no regulation and a greater risk of illness.
NPR recently interviewed Ken Costello, a Nebraska man who became ill with E. coli after eating contaminated spinach, and whose mother-in-law died after also becoming ill with a spinach-linked E. coli infection.
The hospital had not tested her for E. coli as part of their routine testing. Costello had to seek independent testing on the spinach that had made both him and his mother-in-law ill, and later killed her.
Spinach, tainted by E. coli bacteria, has reportedly made about 200 people in two dozen states sick. At least three people are said to have died from the outbreak.
The radio station also interviewed Seattle attorney William Marler, who is representing Ken and more than 90 other individuals who became ill after eating contaminated spinach, who stressed that addressing irrigation issues may go towards helping to alleviate the problem.
Lawmakers and advocates are demanding federal authorities do more to eliminate the contamination.
The Associated Press reports that cattle ranchers have been working to prevent fecal contamination in the Salinas Valley spinach and lettuce fields.
Ranchers were taking steps to keep livestock droppings from infecting produce long before the recent outbreak. These include designating watering holes for cattle so they don't drink from creeks that flow through farms and creating “buffer zones” that keep the animals away from water that could later be used to irrigate crops.
The evidence so far indicates the spinach farmer, who also has not been identified, didn't adhere to voluntary guidelines for vegetables meant to be consumed raw, said Kevin Reilly, deputy director of prevention services for the California Department of Health Services.
The San Jose Mercury News also reported that federal, state, and local investigators spent time Friday looking into one particular ranch near the spinach fields that may have been the source of the E. coli contamination.
Michael R. Taylor, former administrator of USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service and FDA's deputy commissioner for policy, told the Baltimore Sun his opinion on who is at fault for the recent E. coli outbreak tied to tained spinach.
Despite repeated calls by the Government Accountability Office and the National Academy of Sciences to modernize the food safety laws and unify the food safety agencies, Congress hasn't budged, according to Taylor. He continues:
“The deadly form of E. coli that has sickened so many consumers who merely ate spinach or lettuce lives naturally and harmlessly in the gut of cattle - harmlessly, that is, until it is shed into a cow's manure and enters the food supply. This occurs through contamination of beef during the slaughter process or contamination of fresh fruits and vegetables as a result of manure infecting water supplies, birds picking up the bacteria in one field and depositing it in another, or any one of the many other ways bad bugs spread in the environment. The risk of someone getting sick is determined by such contamination events and by all the things that do or do not happen afterward to increase, reduce or eliminate the bacteria before they reach the dinner plate. For spinach, lettuce and other produce consumed raw, the only sure-fire protection is to prevent the contamination in the first place, and that's where the system breaks down.
No one is in charge of leading the research, regulatory and educational initiatives that would be required to discover and implement effective preventive measures, such as vaccines, competitive exclusion agents in animal feed and other innovative tools to prevent infections in animals.”
After the most recent E. coli outbreak traced to fresh produce, consumers are going organic - but not necessarily mass-produced organic. They're buying local, often at farmer's markets, according to the Associated Press.
"We've gone from an era when a food-borne outbreak was a potato salad at a church picnic to a multistate, national or even international outbreak affecting thousands," said Edward Belongia, an epidemiologist with the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
Even farmers say regulating the massive food distribution network is an evolving process for them and the government agencies overseeing it.
"Generally by the time there's an outbreak, those fields are already plowed under, and when they go back, there's no way to trace the problem," said Tom Nunes, president of Nunes Co.
At the same time consumers are putting more thought into produce safety, the FDA and fresh produce farmers and distributors are working to find the source of E. coli contamination in the Salinas Valley.
"This is a significant finding because it is the first time we linked a spinach or lettuce E.coli O157:H7 outbreak to test results from a specific ranch in the Salinas Valley," said State Public Health Officer Dr. Mark Horton. "Our follow-up investigation on this ranch is continuing today with the ongoing assessment of animal management, water systems and agricultural practices to clarify how the bacterial contamination of the spinach occurred."
The trace-back investigation was narrowed from nine implicated ranches to four ranches. The outbreak strain of E. coli O157:H7 from cattle feces was identified on one of these four ranches. At this time, testing of other environmental samples from all four ranches that supplied the implicated lot of contaminated spinach is in progress. The positive test result is a significant finding, but is just one aspect of this investigation. The next step in the investigation is determining how the E. coli pathogen contaminated the spinach. These implicated fields on these four ranches located in Monterey and San Benito counties are not being used to grow any ready-to-eat produce.
The authors of an editorial in the Washington Post made some points about how to make our nation's food safety system more efficient and therefore, make our food safer.
In the editorial, they suggest that Congress should provide money to increase inspection staffing and inspection frequency at the FDA. Other suggestions include lawmakers requiring agencies responsible for food safety to institute a tracing system for food produced in the United States, and Congress giving the FDA the power to issue mandatory recalls of any tainted produce.
The article also mentions legislation that was introduced that would require food producers to establish steps so their products could be traced before they reach consumers. The bill also calls for the creation of a single federal agency with responsibility for monitoring the safety of all foods.
The FDA and the State of California announced today that test results from a field investigation of the outbreak of E.coli O157:H7 in spinach was found to be positive for E.coli O157:H7. Samples of cattle feces on one of the implicated ranches tested positive based on matching genetic fingerprints for the same strain of E. coli that sickened 199 people.
An FDA News report says that the trace back investigation has narrowed to four implicated fields on four ranches. The outbreak strain of E. coli O157:H7 from cattle feces was identified on one of these four ranches. At this time, testing of other environmental samples from all four ranches that supplied the implicated lot of contaminated spinach are in progress. The positive test result is a significant finding, but is just one aspect of this investigation. More information may come forward as the investigation continues.
The four fields, located in Monterey and San Benito counties, are not currently being used to grow any fresh produce. While the focus of this outbreak has narrowed to these four fields, the history of E. coli O157:H7 outbreaks linked to leafy greens indicates an ongoing problem. As the FDA stated in its letter to the lettuce industry in November of 2005, the FDA continues to be concerned due to the history of outbreaks and the on-going risk for product contamination of leafy greens.
This investigation is on-going. FDA, the State of California, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the United States Department of Agriculture are continuing to work closely to determine the cause and scope of the E. coli O157:H7 outbreak linked to fresh spinach.
An editorial in the Los Angeles Times says that all farms must follow the same food safety practices, and that the FDA needs to develop specific guidelines for the fresh produce industry to follow so the industry can prevent fecal contamination from happening in the first place:
“In addition to testing, common safety practices involve locating fields at a distance from livestock operations in order to avoid contamination from manure. If farms use manure as a fertilizer, it's supposed to be pathogen-free, and even then there is generally a waiting period between fertilizing and planting. But not all farms follow all these practices, or to the same extent. In the spinach contamination case, investigators are examining manure from a cattle pasture next to the field. The strain of E. coli found in the manure is the same as that implicated in the deaths of three people who ate the contaminated spinach.
Each time there is an E. coli breakout, the state and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration demand that the industry clean up its act. The industry asks for precise guidelines on what to do, and it gets no answers. Regulators can start by outlining mandatory, common-sense safety practices to protect both public health and farming's reputation.”
The Bakersfield Californian posted an editorial about the lack of a regional food safety lab in California. In it, the newspaper mentions that industrial scale processing, packaging and shipping of perishable items often leads to consumer consumption faster than regulatory agencies can react.
The Californian's editorial accused Rep. John Doolittle of kiilling an effort to put in a regional food safety lab at UC Davis by cutting $1 million from a $100 billion Agriculture appropriations bill.
Regional food safety labs bring together experts from the federal and state governments, as well as industry, whose work is complementary rather than as competition.
If the work of a regional lab fosters collaboration among scientists, the idea would be that food contamination could be discovered sooner and outbreaks could either be prevented or stopped while in their infancy instead of reacted to after they were full-blown.
The Brainerd Dispatch reported an update on the E. coli O157:H7 outbreak in Longville, Minnesota from this summer. The Minnesota Department of Health released its final report on the outbreak.
The USDA collected a sample of beef trimmings from a meat processing plant that yielded an outbreak of E. coli O157:H7. However, that MDH learned of this several days after the Longville outbreak began.
USDA would not report the name of the processing plant to the state health department or the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, and therefore it is unclear if the sample was from the plant MDH's and MDA's investigations find most likely.
Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington consumers were impacted by the recent recall of Foxy brand lettuce after the discovery of E. coli in irrigation water.
As of October 10, the company had recovered nearly all of the recalled lettuce, but a small portion of the product was thought to be consumed or in customers' refrigerators.
In an article for the New York Times, Jesse McKinley says, "contaminated lettuce has long been a source of concern for health authorities. In August, the F.D.A. announced the Lettuce Safety Initiative, meant to address E. coli outbreaks in the past decade that had been linked to fields in the Salinas Valley, about 100 miles south of San Francisco."
E. coli O157:H7 was not isolated from Foxy brand lettuce fields.
In the wake of the recent E. coli outbreak traced to contaminated spinach, consumers have been turning to organic produce in efforts to try to protect themselves from the dangers of pathogenic bacteria that may be present on produce.
WCCO 4 News in Minneapolis says that it is important to remember that organic does not necessarily mean safer, a misconception that consumers may have. Consumers need to educate themselves on what organic actually means – that often times fertilizer is animal-based waste material, the most common means of E. coli contamination.
The Produce Marketing Association is making efforts to increase consumer confidence in what was previously a popular supermarket purchase - bagged spinach. The industry group is encouraging consumers to trust spinach growers and distributors to supply E. coli-free spinach to restaurants and grocery stores across the country.
In a letter, the Produce Marketing Association stated:
“While our members continually invest millions of dollars annually to analyze and enhance existing food safety systems, we have pledged to do more. With that in mind, the produce industry associations have pledged to learn everything we can from this outbreak and work together, as one industry, to enhance the steps already in place to safeguard the public health.
The produce industry will never forget that the greatest impact, and the one that must be our primary focus, is the impact to the consumers and their families affected by the illness. We are also keenly aware of the human toll this outbreak has taken on our industry. We are committed to doing everything possible to ensure this does not happen again.”
Frank Pecarich, a retired soil scientist from Oakland, California, offered his opinion on Monterey County's policies regarding irrigation water for crops in the Salinas Valley in an article for the California Progress Report.
In the article he stated, "State regulators do not require growers to test irrigation water for contaminants. To us the cause seems apparent and at the same time the circumstance seemingly most glaringly ignored by investigators. For us, the main and continuing problem is the use of tertiary treated effluent to irrigate crops consumed fresh without cooking. In particular and most vulnerable are the soft tissue, leafy green vegetables, lettuce and spinach."
The Minnesota Department of Health Public Health Laboratory have received three isolates of E. coli O157:H7 among members of Salem Lutheran Church in Longville, Minnesota. The church had recently held a funeral luncheon and their monthly summer potluck smorgasbord. Subsequently, multiple individuals reportedly became ill with cramps and bloody diarrhea.
MDA was informed that ground beef used to make meatballs for the smorgasbord was purchased at a grocery store in Longville. The following day, MDH learned that the USDA had recently isolated the outbreak subtype of E. coli O157:H7 from a sample of beef trimmings collected from a beef processing plant.
MDA attempted to trace back the beef received by the grocery store to see if it was the kind used to produce the ground beef that was purchased by the church. Based on timing and volume, the ground beef used by the church most likely originated from the 1,900 lb shipment of chuck rolls received by the grocery store.
However, the grocery store did not keep grinding records, so although it is highly likely that the contamination originated from the shipment of chuck rolls, there is no decisive proof.
As of Friday, three people had died from eating tainted spinach and 199 in 26 states were sickened during the outbreak. Officials still have not discovered how the spinach packaged by Natural Selection came to be contaminated, and they may never know, but they are confident the outbreak has been contained.
Caroline and David Zientek are still anemic but recovering from battling kidney failure, brought on by hemolytic uremic syndrome, caused by E. coli.
Their mother, Ana Maria Zientek, a nurse who suspected what made her children sick before the nation even knew there was an outbreak, is feeling largely vindicated. She no longer serves her family raw vegetables.
Jim Goeser, owner of Jim's Market and Locker Inc., tells the Associated Press that the federal government has needlessly requested that he recall 5,200 pounds of meat that he claims is safe and has likely already been consumed by thousands of people across seven states.
The products subject to recall include:
• 10-pound boxes of “Packed for: Davis Mountain Organic Beef, 100% Certified Organic 3-1 Beef Patties”
• 5-pound packages of “Davis Mountains 100% Organic Beef. Lean Ground Beef 90/10″
• 1-pound packages of “Master Choice 100% Organic Angus Beef, 90/10 Ground Beef”
• 1-pound packages of “Davis Mountains 100% Certified Organic Ground Beef”
• 10.5-pounds boxes of “Nebraska, Beef Ground Beef Patty 6oz”
• 60-pound boxes of “Specially Selected For: Farner-Bocken Food Service Beef Pattie Mix 6/10″
• 1-pound packages of “Packed for: Irwin Country Store, Beef Ground Beef 16 oz”
• 1-pound blocks of “Packed for: Irwin Country Store, Beef Ground Beef Patties 4-1″
• 10-pound boxes of “Distributed by: Stube Ranch, Wagyu Beef, Beef Ground Beef Patties, 8 oz Patties”
Rachel Konrad of The Associated Press reports that Salinas-based Nunes Company Inc. has initiated a voluntary recall of green leaf lettuce purchased last week under the Foxy brand name. Foxy is one of the nation's largest suppliers of lettuce, celery, broccoli, vegetable platters and stir-fry mixes.
Executives ordered the recall after learning that water used to irrigate lettuce fields may have been contaminated with E. coli.
Lettuce purchased in grocery stores Oct. 3-6 in Arizona, California, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana is all subject to the recall. According to the article, contaminated lettuce also may have been sold to restaurant distributors.
There is no indication that this lettuce is linked to the recent E. coli outbreak traced to contaminated lettuce sold in Canada.
State health officials said on Friday that one of the three people in the country who died from contaminated spinach is from Sarpy County, Nebraska.
Ruby Trautz, 81, of Bellevue got sick after eating spinach in late August. She died a short time later. Her daughter Polly and her husband Ken told KETV Channel 7 that neither they nor Trautz knew that she had contracted E. coli poisoning.
The Costellos, who learned of Trautz’s diagnosis weeks after her death, believe that thousands of contamination cases have likely gone unreported.
After several tests, state health officials confirmed the spinach Trautz ate was part of the tainted strain from California, but they don't expect to see any more Nebraska cases.
As of October 6, 2006, Friday, 199 persons infected with the outbreak strain of E. coli O157:H7 have been reported to CDC from 26 states. Among the ill persons, 102 were hospitalized and 31 have developed a type of kidney failure called hemolytic uremic syndrome.
Three deaths in confirmed cases have been associated with the outbreak. One was in an elderly woman from Wisconsin. Yesterday, Idaho confirmed that stool samples from a 2-year-old child with HUS who died contained E. coli O157 with a pattern that matches the outbreak strain. Today, Nebraska reported the death of an elderly woman with an illness compatible with E. coli O157 infection who consumed raw spinach.
Maryland is investigating a suspect case in an elderly woman who died on September 13 and had recently consumed fresh spinach.
Two separate E. coli outbreaks in Ontario, with a total of 34 confirmed and suspected cases, may have been the result of tainted lettuce. But health officials say there's no longer a threat to the public, according to CTV News.
Officials are investigating outbreaks stemming from a restaurant in Sudbury and a school in Hamilton. The cities, which are about five hours away from each other, both had outbreaks dating back to late September.
Seattle attorney William Marler is representing Jeffrey Merkey of Lindon, who filed a lawsuit last week after he claimed his son got extremely sick when he was fed spinach.
As a result, Merkey's son spent several weeks in intensive care at Primary Children's Medical Center for severe kidney damage as a result of contracting E. coli-based hemolytic uremic syndrome.
KUTV reports that Marler has a history working on E. coli lawsuits. In 1993, he was lead attorney against "Jack in the Box" for an E. coli outbreak. He has also filed several lawsuits against Natural Selections foods in the recent spinach controversy.
Westlake Village, Calif.-based food giant Dole Food Co. Inc. has been named as a defendant, along with Natural Selection Foods, in five cases filed by people who contracted an E. coli infection allegedly after eating the companies' bagged spinach.
The latest outbreak, which began last month, has killed one person and sickened 183 in 26 states. Of the 95 people hospitalized, 29 have a kidney failure condition called hemolytic uremic syndrome.
Dole settled more than four cases earlier this year, reports the National Law Journal, brought by people who also became ill with E. coli infections in an outbreak last year tied to the company's bagged lettuce.
Dole settled four lettuce cases, three in Minnesota and one in Oregon, in May and June, without disclosing the terms of the resolutions and binding the parties to confidentiality agreements.
The New York Times reports that federal investigators have opened a criminal investigation into accusations that some California spinach growers and distributors failed to take adequate measures to ensure that their spinach was safe before selling it.
Yesterday, agents of the FBI and the Office of Criminal Investigations in the FDA carried out search warrants at Natural Selection Foods of San Juan Bautista and Growers Express of Salinas.
Natural Selection, a large distributor of fresh produce, had previously recalled its packages of fresh spinach.
To date, 192 cases of illness due to E. coli O157:H7 infection have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including 30 cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome, 98 hospitalizations and one death.
The 26 affected states and numbers of illnesses in each state are:
• Arizona (7)
• California (2)
• Colorado (1)
• Connecticut (3)
• Idaho (4)
• Illinois (2)
• Indiana (11)
• Kentucky (8)
• Maine (3)
• Maryland (3)
• Michigan (4)
• Minnesota (2)
• Nebraska (9)
• Nevada (2)
• New Mexico (5)
• New York (11)
• Ohio (25)
• Oregon (6)
• Pennsylvania (9)
• Tennessee (1)
• Utah (18)
• Virginia (2)
• Washington (3)
• West Virginia (1)
• Wisconsin (49)
• Wyoming (1)
In addition, Canada has one confirmed case.
The FDA announced on Friday, September 29 that all spinach implicated in the current outbreak has traced back to Natural Selection Foods LLC of San Juan Bautista, California.
The FBI searched two produce companies Wednesday for evidence of a crime in the nationwide E. coli outbreak that killed one person and sickened at least 192 others.
Agents from the FBI and the Food and Drug Administration used warrants to search a Natural Selection Foods LLC plant in San Juan Bautista and a Growers Express plant in Salinas to determine whether they followed food safety procedures, according to the Associated Press.
Natural Selection, which packages spinach sold under 34 brand names and supplies spinach to other food processors, was implicated in the E. coli outbreak after 11 bags of Dole brand baby spinach tested positive for the same bacteria strain found in people who fell ill after eating the leafy greens.
Growers Express grows and packs produce, including Farm Day packaged spinach. Until Wednesday, the company had not been named in the investigation of how the tainted spinach ended up in bags and on store shelves.
Federal officials do not think anyone at the plants deliberately contaminated spinach with the virulent bacteria and said the searches do not mean there is an ongoing or new threat to public health.
Companies can be convicted if they are shown to have been negligent in preventing tainted foods from entering the market, even if they were unaware of the contamination.
A 4-year-old Scott County child remains in critical condition Tuesday morning after being diagnosed with E. coli bacteria. The child is currently in a Lexington hospital.
The father confirmed that the child had a complication called hemolytic uremic syndrome. In the United States, HUS is the principal cause of acute kidney failure in children, reports the Georgetown News-Graphic.
How the child contracted E.coli remains unknown, and presently there have been no efforts to determine how the bacteria were contracted. Because the exact cause of the Scott County child's E. coli is unknown and because the child did not eat spinach, it is not believed to be part of the national confirmed spinach case count.
The Pine Bluff Commercial reports that Arkansas Department of Health and Human Services spokeswoman Ann Wright said eight cases of E. coli were confirmed Tuesdayin a Van Buren daycare facility, after specimens taken from those ill tested positive for the bacteria.
Rose Worthey, director of the daycare, said Tuesday the center will probably remain closed until all 15 staff members are tested for the bacteria. Worthey said she did not know how long testing the staff would take.
As growers are getting their spinach back on the market, federal investigators will try to capture wild pigs and test them for the E. coli strain that killed one person and sickened dozens of others across the country in the national spinach-related outbreak.
Several farms implicated in the E. coli outbreak also have cows on them and that E. coli samples taken from the fields have been connected to the cattle, but it is unknown if it's the same strain that's responsible for the outbreak.
It has been four days since the ban on local spinach was lifted, but demand for the product is still low. Lawmakers are discussing a possible marketing campaign with growers and shippers in an effort to regain consumer confidence.
California officials have discovered E. coli in cattle feces on pastures near farms being investigated as possible sources of spinach contaminated with the bacteria, which caused a nationwide outbreak of food poisoning.
Reuters reports that state investigators have obtained eight samples of cattle feces testing positive for E. coli. The samples are being retested to see if their bacteria strain matches the strain in 193 cases of food poisoning, including one confirmed fatality last month, all linked to tainted spinach.
The bacteria could have been transmitted to the spinach by irrigation water, fertilizer, farm equipment or workers, livestock and wild animals, or it could have contaminated the spinach inside processing plants, during transport or on store shelves.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said that fresh spinach is safe to eat in the United States because all E. coli-tainted spinach had been recalled.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging clinical labs to use bacterial cultures of stool specimens in suspected cases of Escherichia coli O157:H7 infection to facilitate diagnosis and proper control measures.
Failure to culture specimens can cause labs to mistake some other pathogen for E coli O157:H7, leading to inappropriate public health measures, the CDC says.
There have been recent reports of false positive test results stemming from clinical labs that use enzyme immunoassay to look for the toxins created by E. coli.
A second case of E. coli connected to the tainted spinach has been confirmed by the Southern Nevada Health District.
The first confirmed case of E. coli involved a 9-year-old Henderson girl. The health district has not released details on the second case.
Last week, it was confirmed that a bag of Dole baby spinach purchased in Clark County did test positive for E. coli. The spinach implicated in the current outbreak has been traced to Natural Selection Foods of San Juan Bautista, California.
Health officials continue to investigate whether the death of an elderly Hagerstown woman is linked to the nationwide E. coli outbreak.
The Maryland State Health Department tells NBC25 that it could be weeks before they know whether 86-year-old June Dunning died from E. coli poisoning after eating raw spinach.
Health officials says a final determination may never be made. The outbreak of the E. coli killed at least one person and sickened 187 others in 26 states.
At least three children enrolled at a Van Buren daycare center have been diagnosed with E. coli infection, and state health officials are investigating whether the outbreak is more widespread, according to the Northwest Arkansas News.
Elite Kids Academy Inc. Preschool and Childcare is awaiting test results of 14 other children who have shown symptoms that could be E. coli, said owner Matt Harris.
The daycare first alerted the state Health and Human Services Department last week that one child had a confirmed diagnosis from a private doctor. The center sought advice on protocols and other steps to take, Harris said.
As a precaution, Elite Kids Academy will voluntarily close its doors today to deep-clean “every nook and cranny,” even though no one yet knows how or where the first child became infected, Harris said. The center will reopen Wednesday.
Fresh spinach started trickling back onto local grocery stores shelves this weekend and will slowly continue its produce section homecoming throughout the week, according to the Monterey County Herald.
The news from the Monterey County Health Department this weekend saying local spinach was safe to sell again has been good news for producers such as Del Monte Produce, who had gone from selling two to three thousand pounds of baby spinach to none.
A few customers have started to inquire about spinach, but it may still take some discounts to lure customers back.
The state is allowing a Fresno County dairy to resume producing raw milk products after a three-week investigation into four cases of E. coli poisoning in Southern California.
"The recall and quarantine were lifted because Organic Pastures dairy met the requirements of the state to resume manufacturing operations," Steve Lyle, spokesman for the California Department of Food and Agriculture, told the Sacramento Bee.
McAfee, the state's largest organic raw milk producer, was at the center of an inquiry by the California Department of Food and Agriculture and the Department of Health Services after four children became ill with E. coli poisoning.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a bill that allows California public health officers to notify the public of the names of retailers that receive USDA-recalled meat and poultry, so that consumers can better protect themselves from food-borne illnesses, reports Common Dream Newswire.
This responds to a 2002 agreement in which California’s Department of Health Services signed a secrecy agreement with USDA, agreeing not to release the names of the stores and restaurants where tainted, USDA-recalled beef and poultry have been shipped and sold.
Cases of E. coli have been reported at Elite Kids Academy, Inc., Pre-School and Childcare in Van Buren, Arkansas.
Sharon Harris, owner of the daycare, tells KFSM 5 News that she became aware of the situation when a little girl became sick at the center. The girl went to her doctor who determined that she had an E. coli infection. Since that time, at least two additional children have tested positive for E. coli and another 16 are showing symptoms and are being tested.
The daycare remains open today, with about 40 children present and another 30 expected after school. They normally serve around 130 children.
The center will close tomorrow as a precaution, but they hope to reopen as soon as Wednesday. If they are able to reopen on Wednesday, they will have a health department nurse present to check children for any signs of E. coli symptoms.
As the FDA narrows the search for the cause of a nationwide outbreak of E. coli 0157:H7 tied to bagged spinach, a specialist in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences said the incident may lead to tighter controls on food safety at the farm level.
Luke LaBorde, an associate professor of food science who studies food-safety issues associated with fruits and vegetables, told Penn State Live that the FDA has been concerned about green, leafy vegetables having more than their share of contamination problems.
"The FDA had been focusing on lettuce, and now they've added spinach to their 'alert list' of commodities," LaBorde said. "Once investigators determine how this occurred, the next step will be to find new methods to prevent this from happening again."
Ted Keany of the Washington Post also works at Keany Produce Company in Landover, Washington. The day after the FDA's national warning for consumers to not eat fresh bagged spinach, the produce company wondered what to do with the spinach they did have.
The FDA had not recalled all spinach, but they also had not identified any of the brands or packers that were affected. Nor did they specify whether or not the affected produce was in retail or food-service packaging.
What they did know was that the outbreaks were mostly in the west and midwest, and that the bacteria was E. coli.
A New York Times editorial comments on the recent spinach-related E. coli outbreak:
“Just when many of us thought that eating lots of fresh green leafy vegetables was the key to good health, along comes an outbreak of bacterial contamination in bagged spinach that has frightened consumers and led to a recall of all affected brands. The contamination, detected only in spinach packaged at a particular processing plant in central California, reveals how silly we were to assume that spinach in sealed bags would necessarily be safer than fresh spinach exposed to the environment.”
Thomas Bartlett of the Washington Post recently ordered some raw, unpasteurized milk from a Tennessee dairy that offers raw milk as pet food.
Bartlett lives in Maryland, where raw milk is not offered in stores. Selling it is actually illegal there.
Not only is it illegal, but it is also a violation of federal law to transport raw milk across state lines with the intent to sell it for human consumption. Hence, the dairy in Tennessee’s decision to sell their raw product as “pet food”.
The dairy's Web site warns that "due to significant legal and liability issues, we cannot and will not answer questions regarding human consumption of these or any other raw milk products -- please don't ask."
Despite the recent E. coli spinach outbreak, food may be safer now than at any other time in the last decade, with illness occurring at record-low rates, reports the Associated Press.
Consumers get part of the credit, for handling food more safely at home, but experts say the biggest improvement came from better industry controls and inspections.
"The food is actually cleaner to begin with," said Dr. Robert Tauxe, top food scientist at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Certain germs have dramatically declined, and "that to me is really solid progress."
However, Tauxe does stress that the trend could reverse in coming years if fruit and vegetable growers do not address problems like those that led to the spinach scare.
California health officials said Thursday that they still hoped to locate the source of the E. coli spinach contamination that has sickened at least 187 people in 26 states, killing one.
Officials stressed that the state's farmers must do a much better job of adhering to safe agriculture practices to prevent future E. coli outbreaks. Those practices include making sure produce doesn't come into contact with the E. coli bacteria from irrigation water, fertilizer, animal droppings or unclean human hands, the Associated Press reported.
The state has revoked the milk-producing license of a northwestern Ohio dairy farmer accused of illegally selling raw milk after two people who drank raw milk from the farm became ill.
The Agriculture Department said the Carol Schmitmeyer farm in Darke County processed milk without a processing license, sold raw milk and did not properly label its product.
Instead of selling directly to consumers, which is illegal, the Schmitmeyers operated a herd-share program. Because they own part of the cow, the Schmitmeyers and supporters contend it is not illegal for them to take the raw milk.
License revocation would mean the couple could not sell milk to a processor, and it would end their dairy business.
The couple plan to appeal to Darke County Common Pleas Court.
State officials yesterday continued their quarantine of raw, unpasteurized milk products produced by Organic Pastures of Fresno because four children, including two 8-year-olds in San Diego County, became ill after consuming them.
Stool samples from three of the four youngsters revealed E. coli 0157:H7, which can cause severe diarrhea and other potentially fatal complications.
Two of the patients – a 7-year-old boy in Riverside County and a 10-year-old girl in San Bernardino County – remain hospitalized at Loma Linda University Medical Center.
Mark McAfee, the owner of Organic Pastures, last week said he was convinced the children did not acquire 0157:H7 through his company's products, blaming tainted spinach instead. Tainted spinach is currently causing a national E. coli outbreak.
A Snohomish County, Washington girl is ill from E. coli after drinking unpasteurized milk from a dairy in Whatcom County.
The milk came from Grace Harbor Farms, which sells its products in several counties through health food stores, PCC Natural Markets and Whole Foods Market.
The state Department of Agriculture is investigating the dairy and its operations.
All of the spinach implicated in the current outbreak has traced back to Natural Selection Foods LLC of San Juan Bautista, California. This determination by the FDA is based on epidemiological and laboratory evidence obtained by multiple states and coordinated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
To date, 187 cases of illness due to E. coli O157:H7 infection have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including 29 cases of Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS), 97 hospitalizations and one death.
The E. coli blog supplements Marler Clark’s Web site www.about-ecoli.com, a site that provides information about E. coli O157:H7, the symptoms and risks of infection, E. coli testing/detection, and how to prevent E. coli outbreaks.
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