E. coli in spinach: final report issued
The California Department of Health Services and the Food and Drug Administration released their final report on the spinach E. coli outbreak today. The report is titled, "Investigation of an Escherichia coli O157:H7 Outbreak Associated with Dole Pre-Packaged Spinach (redacted)," and is accompanied by "Recommendations in follow up to the Investigation of an Escherichia coli O157:H7 Outbreak Associated with Dole PrePackaged Spinach."
Gerance Burke, writing for the Associated Press, reported on the report's release in a story published at the San Francisco Chronicle's Web site:
Authorities for the first time said they had isolated the deadly E. coli strain on Paicines Ranch in San Benito County from a field the ranch leased to Mission Organics, a spinach grower.They found E. coli "indistinguishable from the outbreak strain" in river water, cattle feces, and wild pig feces on the ranch within a mile a from the spinach fields, the California Department of Health Services and U.S. Food and Drug Administration said in a joint report.
Investigators also said they could not make a "definitive determination" as to how the E. coli contaminated the spinach.
The Paicines Ranch, which breeds Angus cattle and quarter horses, said in a statement on its Web site that it leases land to crop growers and was not under investigation in the outbreak. A phone number could not immediately be located to reach the ranch for further comment.
In its own news release about the E. coli report, FDA said:
The report describes the painstaking detective work of the investigators following the first reports from CDC in September 2006 of an apparent outbreak of E.coli O157:H7 linked to the consumption of bagged spinach. The probe initially focused on the processing and packaging plant of Natural Selection Foods, LLC in San Juan Bautista, CA, where the contaminated products had been processed.The next focus of the inquiry was the source of the spinach in 13 bags containing E.coli O157:H7 isolates that had been collected nationwide from sick customers. Using the product codes on the bags, and employing DNA fingerprinting on the bacteria from the bags, the investigators were able to match environmental samples of E.coli O157:H7 from one field to the strain that had caused the outbreak.
