Companies that distribute bagged salad products from San Juan
Bautista’s Natural Selections pull product
WASHINGTON (AP)
– A Seattle company is recalling some salad products distributed
in the Northeast because they may contain fresh spinach
contaminated with E. coli, the Food and Drug Administration said
Monday.
The recall, by Triple B Corp., involves products with spinach
that may have been supplied by Natural Selections Foods, parent
company of the Earthbound Farm brand in San Juan Bautista. Many of
the 173 people sickened in the nation’s E. coli outbreak reported
eating spinach supplied by National Selections.
Companies that distribute bagged salad products from San Juan Bautista’s Natural Selections pull product
WASHINGTON (AP) – A Seattle company is recalling some salad products distributed in the Northeast because they may contain fresh spinach contaminated with E. coli, the Food and Drug Administration said Monday.
The recall, by Triple B Corp., involves products with spinach that may have been supplied by Natural Selections Foods, parent company of the Earthbound Farm brand in San Juan Bautista. Many of the 173 people sickened in the nation’s E. coli outbreak reported eating spinach supplied by National Selections.
So far, 92 people have been hospitalized, including Marion Graff, 77, of Manitowoc, Wis., who died. Two other deaths have been reported – a child in Idaho and an elderly woman in Maryland – but those cases are still being investigated.
State and federal investigators have traced the contaminated spinach to three counties, including San Benito County. The FDA has recommended people not eat fresh, raw spinach, though on Friday it said that spinach grown outside that area is safe to eat.
Triple B, also known as S.T. Produce, is recalling salad products distributed to retail stores and delis in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana, the FDA said. They were sold in hard plastic containers with “use by” dates of Sept. 22 through Sept. 20.
Also this week, a Portland-based company has announced a recall order for spinach grown by Natural Selections in San Juan, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Pacific Coast Fruit Company is recalling salad and pizza that may have been made with spinach supplied by Natural Selections Foods, and that was distributed in Alaska, Oregon, Washington and Idaho.
The salad bears a “use-by” date of Sept. 20, and the pizza products have a “use-by” date of Sept. 23, according to the USDA.
Nationally, 173 cases of illness have been blamed Sunday on the outbreak of E. coli linked to fresh spinach, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
Officials said spinach grown anywhere outside of the San Benito County and Salinas Valley areas are safe to eat, but industry needs to figure out how to let consumers know the origin of what they’re buying before the green can return to sale, said Dr. David Acheson of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.
Officials focus on San Juan plant
By LISA LEFF
Associated Press Writer
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Test results linking two bags of Dole brand baby spinach to a deadly E. coli strain have helped health officials hone in on a specific batch from a San Juan Bautista processing plant that may be the source of a nationwide outbreak.
The investigation remains focused on Natural Selection Foods LLC, which officials believe packaged the tainted spinach for Dole and dozens of other brands. They’re looking specifically at nine farms in three California counties that supplied the company with leafy greens.
Both tainted bags – one found in Utah over the weekend and the other in New Mexico earlier last week – were processed during the same shift on Aug. 15 at Natural Selection’s plant, said Dr. Kevin Reilly, deputy director of prevention services for the California Department of Health Services.
“We are looking very aggressively at what was produced on that date,” Reilly said Monday. “Much of the feedback we got from patients right now was related to Dole packaging.”
Pennsylvania health officials said Tuesday a bag of Dole baby spinach purchased there was also tied to the deadly E. coli strain. A lab identified the strain in a sample of spinach purchased on or around Sept. 8 in western Pennsylvania.
About two dozen cases have yet to be confirmed as related to the spinach outbreak. West Virginia health officials said Tuesday they confirmed that a 71-year-old man there was sickened by the strain of E. coli linked to spinach.
“We probably are seeing the tail end of the outbreak,” said Howard Backer, California’s acting public health officer. “Partly as a result of spinach being taken off from the market, there is not ongoing contamination.”
The E. coli outbreak from spinach has sickened at least 175 people, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Monday. More than half – 93 – were hospitalized, including a 77-year-old Wisconsin woman who died.
Two other deaths have been reported in suspected cases – a child in Idaho and an elderly woman in Maryland – but those cases still are being investigated.
In addition to Dole, Natural Selection Foods has recalled more than 30 brands, including President’s Choice, Ready Pac, Trader Joe’s, Nature’s Basket and Premium Fresh.
It was too soon to say whether any other brands besides Dole would turn out to have been contaminated, he added. Calls to Dole’s headquarters in Westlake Village were not returned Monday.
Although the FDA has recommended that people not eat fresh, raw spinach, it said Friday that spinach grown anywhere outside California’s Salinas Valley is safe to eat.
Salinas Valley farmers and growers were developing new food safety guidelines they need to have approved by the FDA before the agency lifts its consumer warning on locally grown and packaged spinach.
“At this point, there is not a finalized proposal, but I know there is a lot of effort going forward with that right now,” Reilly said Monday.
Over the weekend, two companies in the Pacific Northwest voluntarily recalled some of their products because they may contain spinach supplied by Natural Selection.
Seattle-based Triple B Corp. recalled salad products distributed to retail stores and delis in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana that had “use by” dates of Aug. 22 through Sept. 20.
Pacific Coast Fruit Company, based in Portland, Ore., recalled salad and pizza that may have been made with spinach supplied by Natural Selections. The products were distributed in Alaska, Oregon, Washington and Idaho.
The 26 states that have reported E. coli infections since the spinach-linked outbreak was identified last month are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
On the Net:
FDA E. coli information:
http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/spinach.html
