As the national spinach-based E. coli outbreak stretches into 21 states, food safety advocates called on the federal government to revamp its regulations for fruit and vegetable production.
As of Monday afternoon, the CDC reported that 114 people, including one in California, have been infected with a strain of E. coli that has been linked
Tainted spinach is not the only source of E. coli to infect local residents in a recent outbreak, reports the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Five of the seven E. coli cases being investigated by the Manitowoc County Health Department may have been caused by exposure to animals at the county fair.
The Food and Drug
More than 100 people have fallen ill in recent days and one died after eating raw spinach contaminated with the O157:H7 strain of E. coli, according to FDA officials. A second death, of a person in Ohio, was being studied to see if it also was linked to the outbreak.
The CDC has now
Supermarkets and salad bars throughout the New York metropolitan area stopped selling prepackaged fresh spinach yesterday as New York joined the growing number of states reporting confirmed cases of E.coli infections linked to Popeye’s favorite food.
The New York cases are currently all upstate – in Erie, Schoharie, Schenectady and Chemung counties. Nationwide, 20 states
Health authorities in Ohio are investigating a death that may be linked to the nationwide outbreak of bacterial illnesses caused by contaminated spinach harvested in California’s coastal valley, reports the Knight-Ridder Tribune.
Federal public health authorities cannot confirm the Ohio case as having a definite association with the outbreak of E.coli O157:H7 illnesses until the
The answer to the central mystery in an ongoing national E. coli scare that has sickened at least 114 people was uncovered during a series of phone surveys conducted from Melissa Plantenga’s Lloyd Center office.
Plantenga, a research analyst who tracks food-borne diseases for the Oregon Department of Human Services, had telephoned the five E.
Government and other experts say that water on the farms could be a likely culprit in the Salinas Valley farms where E. coli has contaminated the spinach crops, though that has not been proved.
Salinas Valley is believed to be the source of at least eight E. coli outbreaks since 1995. Twice in the past
G&G Restaurant Corp, owner of Hamilton’s Restaurant in Glenview, Illinois, filed what could be the first in a bumper crop of class-action lawsuits on Monday.
Class-action suits allow numerous plaintiffs with relatively small claims to band together to seek redress.
Unlike other actions filed in the latest outbreak, the lawsuit does not allege physical harm
Michael Greger, the director of public health and animal agriculture for the Farm Animal Welfare division of the Humane Society of the United States, wrote a letter to the editor of the Stamford Advocate regarding a recent article about the recent national E. coli outbreak stemming from spinach.
In the letter, he states that:
“Any
Leafy vegetables are the second leading source of E. coli infections in the United States, behind ground beef, but the government relies primarily on voluntary safety steps by farmers and packagers to prevent outbreaks.
The cleanliness of fresh produce is drawing new attention amid reports that tainted spinach has been found recently in 21 states