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FDA Issues Warning About Bagged Spinach

Stores Not Removing Suspect Spinach From Shelves

By Joseph S. Enoch
ConsumerAffairs.com

September 15, 2006

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The Food and Drug Administration is issuing an alert to consumers about an outbreak of E. coli in several states and bagged fresh spinach is the suspected culprit. At least one person has died and more than 50 have fallen ill.

Across the country, the number of infections is growing.

"It's increasing by the day," David Acheson, chief medical officer at the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, warned reporters in a conference call. "All I can say is that I don't know. We may be at the peak, we may not."

Based on the current information, FDA advises that consumers not eat bagged fresh spinach. Individuals who believe they may have experienced symptoms of illness after consuming bagged spinach are urged to contact their health care provider.

The FDA did not identify a particular brand of bagged spinach. CNN reports that grocery stores are not taking the potentially dangerous product off the shelves -- they are leaving it up to the consumer to know about the outbreak.

ConsumerAffairs.com's medical advisor, Dr. Henry Fishman, said E. coli causes diarrhea, often with bloody stools, accompanied by cramps and abdominal pain.

E. Coli infections are not rare. According to ABC News, every year there are an estimated 73,000 cases and 61 deaths.

In fact, we have E. coli in our intestines, Fishman said. It helps turn our food into useful vitamins. However, this particular strain of the Enterobacteriaceae family is a particularly dangerous form of the bacteria. It is the same strain that was found in Jack in the Box meat in 1993 in Washington state. That strain infected 700 people and killed four.

Fishman said cooking food kills E. coli. However, boiling the spinach, compared to broiling hamburger meat, may not be enough.

Most healthy consumers should be able to fight the bacteria on their own by hydrating well, Fishman said. Antibiotics are generally not effective. Those who fall ill should should drink lots of fluids and seek medical attention promptly.

Although most healthy adults can recover completely within a week, some people can develop a form of kidney failure called Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS).

HUS is most likely to occur in young children and the elderly. The condition can lead to serious kidney damage and even death. To date, 50 cases of illness have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including 8 cases of HUS and one death.

States that have reported illnesses to date include Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Wisconsin.

"Given the severity of this illness and the seriousness of the outbreak, FDA believes that a warning to consumers is needed. We are working closely with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state and local agencies to determine the cause and scope of the problem," said Dr. Robert Brackett, Director of FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN).

Unfortunately, fresh produce is too often contaminated with E. coli, Salmonella, or other potentially deadly pathogens, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). Contamination can come from use of untreated manure used as fertilizer, irrigation water contaminated with waste from animal agriculture, or cross-contamination during processing.

"It is vital that the federal government ensure the safety of fresh fruits and vegetables, especially since we want people to eat more of these healthy foods, not less. But regrettably, food-safety responsibilities are divided among the FDA, USDA, and other agencies, with no single agency having primacy from farm to fork," CSPI said.

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