Hollister
– Less than a mile from spinach fields growing on a ranch near
Paicines, investigators isolated a deadly strain of E. coli that is
indistinguishable from the strain that caused last year’s outbreak,
state and federal health officials said Friday.
Hollister – Less than a mile from spinach fields growing on a ranch near Paicines, investigators isolated a deadly strain of E. coli that is indistinguishable from the strain that caused last year’s outbreak, state and federal health officials said Friday.
Traces of the deadly E. coli O157:H7 outbreak strain were found on Paicines Ranch near land leased to Mission Organics, a spinach grower, according to a report released by the California Department of Health Services and the United States Food and Drug Administration. The E. coli outbreak, which sickened more than 200 and killed three nationwide, was spread through prepackaged spinach processed at San Juan Bautista-based Natural Selection Foods.
Dr. Kevin Reily, deputy director of prevention services for the California Department of Health Services, said investigators do not know how the spinach was contaminated.
“We found in our investigation a number of areas that could have contributed,” he said.
Officials found E. coli from pig feces, cattle feces and river water on Paicines ranch, Reily said, but did not know if the tainted spinach was grown by Mission Organics.
The six-month probe will serve as a model for future investigations since it was the first time authorities had traced a bacterial contamination to its likely source using DNA matching, officials said. Authorities did not recommend issuing fines to any growers, handlers or producers, but said the leafy greens industry would be closely watched following the outbreak.
The ultimate purpose of the investigation was to put forth preventative measures and immediately advise the industry of changes to safety practices, Reily said. He said the testing being implemented by growers and handlers has already made leafy greens safer.
“The good agricultural practices have reduced risks significantly,” Reily said. However, he added, “It has not eliminated the risk.”
Health officials advocated more research into E. coli Friday to learn about how it spreads.
Regardless of how the spinach was contaminated, health officials said three other ranches found to be contaminated with E. coli after the outbreak had inherent environmental risks.
San Benito County Agricultural Commissioner Paul Matulich said not much of the county’s more than 3,000 acres of spinach is grown south of Tres Pinos, where the E. coli outbreak strain was found.
“Eighty percent is either grown in the San Juan Valley or out going toward the Bolsa,” Matulich said. “Ten percent or less is grown south of Tres Pinos.”
As local growers wait to see what safety practices will be implemented, many hope consumer confidence in spinach will rebound fully.
In 2001, only 996 acres of spinach was grown in San Benito County, worth $4 million. By 2005, spinach land had more than tripled, to 3,593 acres worth more than $14 million.
Matulich estimated county spinach revenue loss at between $5 million and $6 million due to 2006’s E. coli outbreak.
Officials did not recommend widespread mandatory guidelines to prevent future outbreaks, angering victims and their families.
“This report does not bring our mother back,” said Darryl Howard, whose mother, Betty Howard, of Richland, Wash., died in January as a result of E. coli-related complications. “The question is: Will they use it to implement things that will make this better?”
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. Ranch officials declined further comment.
Mission Organics can’t sell spinach until state health authorities approve a new plan that shows they corrected their agricultural practices to minimize bacterial contamination. The company’s spinach fields were in the second year of a three-year transition to organic production, officials said.
Otto Kramm, the head of Mission Organics, has said he plans to build an $80,000 fence around the 450 acres he leases from Paicines Ranch to prevent pigs from going through the area to feed on grapes in neighboring vineyards.
“If you were to test now you’d probably find different microbes in the area,” said Bradley Sullivan, the company’s attorney. “It was only that one day that they found it in the food supply. Could it have come through the wells? Could it have come through a pig? No one really knows.”
Investigators also found E. coli near three other fields.
Since the fatal outbreak in September, lawmakers in Congress have pushed for regular inspection of processing plants. The FDA announced voluntary guidelines earlier this month for preventing food poisoning in fresh-cut produce.
The California agriculture industry, which produces about three-quarters of the nation’s lettuce and spinach, took a huge financial hit from the E. coli scandal.
State and federal officials said Friday they supported a voluntary marketing agreement developed by California lettuce and spinach processors that would allow participants to put a food safety seal of approval on their products to reflect they complied with the program’s guidelines.
Signatories would agree to buy only from growers who can show they protected crops against E. coli and other contaminants by building fences to keep stray animals away from crops and routinely testing irrigation water for bacteria, among other measures.
Industry groups such as the California Farm Bureau and the Produce Marketing Association developed the guidelines that participating companies must follow, which were approved Friday by a board appointed by the state’s agriculture secretary.
USDA and state agriculture inspectors will conduct audits of participating processing plants, and implement a series of penalties yet to be finalized, said Steve Lyle, a spokesman for the Department of Food and Agriculture.
So far, 54 handlers that wash, package and ship about 98 percent of the leafy greens processed in the state have signed up for the program, Lyle said.
Still, critics said they worried a voluntary agreement wasn’t enough to prevent another rash of foodborne illness.
“This industry is only as strong as its weakest link,” said attorney Bill Marler, who is representing 93 of the outbreak victims. “The next time there is an outbreak, the whole industry is going to take a hit, not just the farmer who didn’t sign the agreement.”
Michael Van Cassell covers public safety for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or mvancassell@
freelancenews.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
