Our World

E. coli outbreak

As of Saturday September 18 packages of spinach were recalled from store shelves. An out break of E. coli bacteria was traced to the packaged vegetable. The initial action taken by the FDA was to prevent people from eating the packaged spinach, but now officials warn consumers to avoid the vegetable altogether. The food distribution company, Natural Selection, is the believed source but no traces have been found on other products being grown there. Natural Selection distributes many non-organic foods to many other companies, including Dole.
Just how the bacteria came in contact with the food is unknown. E. coli is found in the intestinal tract of cattle. The manure from the cattle can come into contact with a water system and contaminate any object the water is in contact with. The spinach could have been infected during the growing or packaging phase before it reached store shelves.
Since the outbreak 102 cases of E. coli have been reported. Of the 102 infections 16 have lead to the patients developing hemolytic uremic syndrome, a type of kidney failure. See http://familydoctor.org/242.xml for more information on E. coli infections.
The FDA plans to continue their search for the source beginning with the testing of soil and working towards the packaging stages.

posted by Anonymous @ 9/19/2006 06:34:00 PM