A California company that sells bagged spinach under the Dole, Trader Joe's and Earthbound Farm brand names, among others, is being pegged as the source of a deadly E. coli outbreak.
Natural Selection Foods has recalled all of its fresh spinach products, along with packaged salads containing spinach.
Although most of those who have become ill reported eating Natural Selection products, the U.S. Food and Drug Administraton (FDA) said it has not yet been able to find the bacterium in the company's products.
Besides warning consumers to avoid packaged spinach, the FDA said it would be wise to avoid spinach served at restaurant salad bars.
Most supermarkets removed packaged spinach from their shelves Friday, though some were quicker to do so than others. In the Washington, D.C., area, Giant Foods and Safeway shelves were bereft of spinach at midday Friday.
A Trader Joe's in Fairfax, Va., had removed its spinach but posted a colorful, cheery note saying that it had taken the action even though "no one has gotten sick from our spinach." A store employee was unaware that the Trader Joe's brand had been identified as carrying the virulent bacterium.
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. 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.
