San Juan Bautista
– After an eight-day ban on fresh spinach products, federal
officials gave consumers a green light to eat spinach grown outside
San Benito, Monterey and Santa Clara Counties.
San Juan Bautista – After an eight-day ban on fresh spinach products, federal officials gave consumers a green light to eat spinach grown outside San Benito, Monterey and Santa Clara Counties.
Food and Drug Administration officials said the spinach implicated in the recent E. coli outbreak was grown in those three counties, according to a statement released Friday. The FDA said that spinach grown in the rest of the U.S. has not been linked to the outbreak, which spread through 25 states, sickening 166 people.
“The public can be confident that spinach grown in the non-implicated areas can be consumed. Other produce grown in these counties is not implicated in this outbreak,” the FDA said in a statement Friday.
While the FDA has yet to pinpoint the exact location of the E. coli outbreak, the agency said it is working closely with industry officials to narrow down the source of the outbreak.
Spinach processed in San Juan Bautista by organic giant Natural Selection LLC has remained at the center of the FDA’s investigation into the E. coli outbreak. Natural Selection, the country’s largest grower and shipper of organic produce, had planned to release a statement concerning its water usage Friday afternoon, but held back pending approval of staff, company spokeswoman Samantha Cabaluna said. She said that additional information would be made available to the public on Monday.
Despite the FDA’s green light for spinach grown outside San Benito, Monterey and Santa Clara Counties, the leafy greens had not returned to local grocery store shelves as of press time on Friday. At least seven out of every 10 organic salads sold in grocery stores come from Natural Selection subsidiary Earthbound Farm.
Cabaluna said the company was doing everything possible to help the FDA in the search for the source of the contaminated spinach. She said that although the company.
“We are doing everything we can,” she said.
San Benito County Agriculture Commissioner Paul Matulich said the company’s voluntary recall of all its spinach product on Sept. 15 was a sign that the company was coping artfully with the outbreak.
“I can only praise the way they have handled this situation,” he said.
