San Juan Bautista
– Federal agents executed search warrants yesterday on the
offices of Natural Selection Foods of San Juan Bautista and Growers
Express of Salinas in connection with September’s E. coli outbreak.
Officials reported they are investigating allegations of a criminal
violation of federal environmental
laws.
San Juan Bautista – Federal agents executed search warrants yesterday on the offices of Natural Selection Foods of San Juan Bautista and Growers Express of Salinas in connection with September’s E. coli outbreak. Officials reported they are investigating allegations of a criminal violation of federal environmental laws.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, there have been 192 cases of spinach-related E. coli reported to the Center for Disease Control in connection with September’s outbreak, including 98 hospitalizations and one death.
San Juan Bautista-based Natural Selection Foods has already been connected to the outbreak – 11 bags of Dole baby spinach packaged at its facility have tested positive for the outbreak strain of E. coli. Natural Selection issued a recall on all implicated products on Sept. 15, and four other companies have issued secondary recalls because they received the recalled product from Natural Selection. On Tuesday, health department investigators said they detected E. coli in cattle manure found in pastures adjacent to two farms linked to the tainted spinach.
Salinas-based Growers Express is licensed to sell Green Giant fresh fruits and vegetables; its Web site currently lists spinach as one of its products.
U.S. Attorney Kevin V. Ryan released a statement Wednesday saying the investigation has not revealed any evidence of a new or continuing threat to public health.
“I want to reassure the public that there is no indication in this investigation that leaf spinach was deliberately or intentionally contaminated,” Ryan said. “We are investigating allegations that certain spinach growers and distributors may not have taken all necessary or appropriate steps to ensure that their spinach was safe before they were placed into interstate commerce.”
Investigators from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the FDA arrived at the offices of both Natural Selection and Growers Express Wednesday morning. The investigators were still in the Natural Selection office several hours later.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the agencies are looking for quality assurance documents connected to the outbreak; Department of Justice spokesperson Luke Macaulay declined to comment on whether this is true. He also declined to elaborate on what specific laws may have been broken.
Calls to Natural Selection were not returned on Wednesday. In a written statement, Natural Selection Chief Operating Officer Charles Sweat said agents asked for some documents they had already seen, as well as some containing additional information.
“We will continue to cooperate with the investigation and welcome all efforts to trace this problem back to its source,” Sweat said.
He also said that Natural Selection implemented a new set of stricter safety standards last week.
These searches are the first suggestions that the outbreak may have been caused by a violation of federal law. San Benito County District Attorney John Sarsfield said he was aware of the FBI’s investigation and is not planning to take any local action.
“We’re not planning to conduct any investigation of our own; we’re staying out of the feds’ way for now,” he said.
County Agriculture Commissioner Paul Matulich said Natural Selection Foods and subsidiary Earthbound Farm have always been cooperative with local officials and his office.
“They’re pretty straight shooters. Their sanitation practices are damn near as good as the hospital’s,” he said. “But I don’t know what goes on in the corporate office.”
Anthony Ha covers local government for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566, ext. 330 or
ah*@fr***********.com
. Free Lance staff writer Brett Rowland and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
