San Juan Bautista
– There appears to be confusion about a specific batch of
spinach tainted with E. coli that government officials believe may
be the source of the nationwide outbreak.
San Juan Bautista – There appears to be confusion about a specific batch of spinach tainted with E. coli that government officials believe may be the source of the nationwide outbreak.
California Department of Health Services officials echoed a federal report Tuesday that two tainted bags of Dole brand baby spinach – one discovered in Utah over the weekend and another in New Mexico last week – were processed during the same shift on Aug. 15 at Natural Selection Foods LLC’s packaging plant in San Juan Bautista.
When asked to comment, however, Earthbound Farm spokeswoman Samantha Cabaluna said this information was inaccurate. Earthbound is a subsidiary of Natural Selection. Rather, Cabaluna said, the packages in question had been processed on two separate dates, according to the package codes Earthbound has in possession.
“I do know that they are on separate dates,” she said.
When asked to verify whether or not the packages in question were both processed on the 15th, CDHS spokeswoman Michelle Mussuto said, “Yes, that is the correct date.”
Pennsylvania health officials have also reported that a bag of Dole baby spinach purchased in the state was tied to the E. coli strain.
The FDA issued an advisory against eating fresh or packaged spinach last week, after more than a hundred cases of E. coli were reported across 19 states. The disease was linked to Natural Selection Foods. Natural Selection works with more than 30 brands throughout the country, including recognizable names like Sysco, Dole, Trader Joe’s and Ready-Pac.
In a statement released on Friday, the FDA said spinach implicated in the outbreak was produced in San Benito, Monterey or Santa Clara counties. It has not been determined if spinach going through Natural Selection’s packing process was already contaminated. Currently FDA officials are investigating nine farms in the three counties.
“Nothing’s really changed after that first bag tested positive (for E. coli),” Cabaluna said. “Our own tests and the FDA tests on the plant have come back clean, so everyone’s looking at what farms it came from.”
The outbreak has sickened more than 175 people to date, of which 93 were hospitalized. One death in Wisconsin has been attributed to the outbreak, and two other deaths may have been the result of E. coli.
Also, a family in Ohio is suing Natural Selection after being sickened by E. coli.
Natural Selection said sales were down 40 percent last week; spinach accounts for roughly 20 percent of its business. The company offered the first bagged salads in 1986 at a local roadside stand and has grown into a $360 million a year business. Nationwide, bagged salad is a $2.5 billion a year business.
Associated Press Writers Lisa Leff and Paul Elias contributed to this report.
Danielle Smith covers education for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or ds****@fr***********.com.
