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mom2mpr
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I just went to the grocery store yesterday and purchased 5 bags of spinich for soup for this week. This morning NPR(dh let me know) mentioned and Fox News(I researched online looking for more info)say not to use bagged salads.
One person has died and many others have gotten sick.
Sigh! So I am wondering if any microbiologists out there know if heating the greens kills the bacteria? I can't seem to find that info online anywhere.
I hate to drive 30 minutes back to store to return these :)
Thanks!
Anne
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ladybugs
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I bought a bag of frozen spinach this week.
Interestingly, we "inadvertantly" left a bag in the van upon our arrival home.
Guess what we lost?
Frozen spinach.
I would return it...
Just for piece of mind.
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mom2mpr
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This is fresh spinich in the bags only! I WISH I had gotten frozen 
Anne
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ladybugs
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| Posted: Sept 15 2006 at 10:42am | IP Logged
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Oh, that's weird...I thought I read frozen this am...
I really need that coffee!
Off to get it!
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mom2mpr
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I just double checked because I don't do coffee and thought maybe I messed up--FOX news says it is bagged fresh...maybe there is another story about frozen--sheesh this is why I don't watch the news
Anne
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Elizabeth
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Here's the AP report. It's always a a good idea to wash even the bagged fresh produce:
WASHINGTON (Sept. 15) -- Consumers nationwide should not eat fresh bagged spinach, say health officials probing a multistate outbreak of E. coli that killed at least one person and made dozens of others sick.
Food and Drug Administration and state officials don't know the cause of the outbreak, although raw, packaged spinach appears likely. "We're advising people not to eat it," said Dr. David Acheson of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.
Eight states were reporting a total of 50 cases of E. coli, Acheson said Thursday.
The death occurred in Wisconsin, where 20 people were reported ill, 11 of them in Milwaukee. The outbreak has sickened others -- eight of them seriously -- in Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, New Mexico, Oregon and Utah. In California, state health officials said they were investigating a possible case there.
The outbreak has affected a mix of ages, but most of the cases have involved women, Acheson said. Further information on the person who died wasn't available.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Wisconsin health officials alerted the FDA about the outbreak at midweek. Preliminary analysis suggested the same bug is responsible for the outbreak in all eight states.
The warning applied to consumers nationwide because of uncertainty over the origin of the tainted spinach and how widely it was distributed. Health officials did not know of any link to a specific growing region, grower, brand or supplier, Acheson said.
Amy Philpott, a spokeswoman for the United Fresh Produce Association, said that it's possible the cause of the outbreak won't be known for some time, even after its source is determined.
"Our industry is very concerned," she said. "We're taking this very seriously."
Reports of infections have been growing by the day, Acheson said. "We may be at the peak, we may not be," he said."
E. coli causes diarrhea, often with bloody stools. Most healthy adults can recover completely within a week, although some people -- including the very young and old -- can develop a form of kidney failure that often leads to death.
Anyone who has gotten sick after eating raw packaged spinach should contact a doctor, officials said.
Other bagged vegetables, including prepackaged salads, apparently are not affected. In general, however, washing all bagged vegetables is recommended. Thorough cooking kills the bacterium.
"We're telling people if they have bagged produce and they feel like it's a risk, throw it out," Michigan Department of Community Health spokesman T.J. Bucholz said. "If they feel like they have to eat it, wash it first in warm water."
E. coli lives in the intestines of cattle and other animals and typically is linked to contamination by fecal material. It causes an estimated 73,000 cases of infection, including 61 deaths, each year in the United States, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Sources of the bacterium include uncooked produce, raw milk, unpasteurized juice, contaminated water and meat, especially undercooked or raw hamburger, the agency says on its Web site.
In December 2005, an E. coli outbreak sickened at least eight children in Washington state. Officials traced the outbreak to unpasteurized milk from a dairy that had been ordered to stop distributing raw milk.
Last October, the FDA warned people not to eat certain Dole prepackaged salads that were connected to an outbreak of E. coli infections in Minnesota. At least 11 people were sickened.
In 1993, a major E. coli outbreak sickened about 700 people and killed four who ate undercooked Jack in the Box hamburgers in Washington state. That outbreak led to tighter Agriculture Department safety standards for meat and poultry producers.
09-15-06 08:39 EDT
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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mom2mpr
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| Posted: Sept 15 2006 at 11:47am | IP Logged
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Thank you , Elizabeth!!
Just what I needed--I am pretty sure my soup will be safe!
Anne
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Elizabeth
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Contrary to the above report, Fox is reporting that the bacteria is resistant to normal produce washing.
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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Cay Gibson
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There were two cases of E. coli here in SW Louisiana immediately after Hurricane Rita. The only connection between the two cases was that they had both drank a can of filtered water given out by FEMA. (I drank one when we got it but it tasted like an aluminum can ~ nasty  ~ so I got rid of them.)
Both the woman and man (who use to be the security guard at my dh's store so we knew him well) survived but it was a terrible ordeal.
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JennGM
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mom2mpr wrote:
I just went to the grocery store yesterday and purchased 5 bags of spinich for soup for this week. This morning NPR(dh let me know) mentioned and Fox News(I researched online looking for more info)say not to use bagged salads.
One person has died and many others have gotten sick.
Sigh! So I am wondering if any microbiologists out there know if heating the greens kills the bacteria? I can't seem to find that info online anywhere.
I hate to drive 30 minutes back to store to return these :)
Thanks! |
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Anne,
All the reports I'm reading is that washing doesn't kill it, but cooking does. But I don't think a little heat...I'd follow the advice used for cooking raw beef, what temperature it needs to be. Steaming won't do it...gotta cook them!
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JennGM
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Further thoughts and questions. Dh read that the reason for this outbreak was the use of cow manure as a natural (read: organic) fertilizer. But that shouldn't stop our quest for organics, because it could also be used elsewhere.
But my question which might just be rhetorical or hypothetical...do farmers do this for other crops? Should we be careful with other lettuce and salad greens for a while? Is that going too far?
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alicegunther
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I have actually been thinking about posting a prayer request because my family practically lives on bagged raw spinach. My daughter Theresa and I both had raw spinach in a salad on Thursday, the day before the story about the recall hit our local news.
It has been four days, and the incubation for E coli is 5 to 10 days. I'm not too worried, but if you are reading this, please say a little prayer that this won't affect us, especially if it is possible for me to transmit it to our three month old through nursing. (Does anyone know if it is?)
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MaryM
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alicegunther wrote:
| ...especially if it is possible for me to transmit it to our three month old through nursing. (Does anyone know if it is?) |
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Even if a mom has food poisoning, breastfeeding should continue. As long as the symptoms are confined to the gastrointestinal tract (vomiting, diarrhea, stomach cramps), there is no risk to the baby. If the food poisoning becomes systemic (in the blood) mom would be hospitalized anyway and there are some specific recommendations concerning breastfeeding in Breastfeeding- A Guide for the Medical Profession by Dr. Ruth Lawrence.
"In the vast majority of cases. food poisoning remits within a few days causing no further problems. It poses no danger to the breastfeeding baby, although the breastfeeding mother with diarrhea and vomiting should be encouraged to drink enough liquids to maintain her fluid balance and avoid dehydration.
Some mothers may contract such severe case of food poisoning that antibiotics are needed, most of which are consdiered compatible with breastfeeding. Depending upon which bacteria are involved, other precautions may be recommended to prevent airborne or diret-contact transmission between mother and baby, such as careful hand-washing and wear0ng a maks while breastfeeding. (Lawrence and Lawrence, pp564-66.0" [Breastfeeding Breastfeeding Answer Book, LLL, 2003]
For you and Theresa's sake, we'll pray that you weren't exposed. BTW, I've seen shorter incubation times listed, 3-9 days.
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guitarnan
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The outbreak is confined to spinach...fresh spinach. Frozen and canned are OK. Lettuce is not affected.
No one is able at this point to determine whether or not the spinach in question was organic. Both organic and conventional farmers use compost (not quite the same as pure manure, due to the elevated temperature of the compost) in their methods, according to NPR today. (I've seen this info in other places...and according to what I heard on NPR today, organic farming is regulated, including temperature of compost, while conventional farming isn't.)
According to the FDA, the best thing to do is 1) not worry if you ate spinach, and 2) toss all fresh spinach you might have, avoiding future purchases until the FDA figures out how the E.coli got onto the spinach.
I hope this clarifies things a bit.
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alicegunther
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MaryM wrote:
| [QUOTE=alicegunther] For you and Theresa's sake, we'll pray that you weren't exposed. BTW, I've seen shorter incubation times listed, 3-9 days. |
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Many thanks, Mary--and I so appreciate the helpful information.
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Elizabeth
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While it is true that the outbreak is confined to spinach, please avoid all those salad blends that have spinach in them. We buy huge boxes of Earthbound Farms spring mix at Costco. There is spinach in the mix.
Also, I think prayers are in order for the folks in San Juan Bautista who have worked so hard to make organic farming and organic produce part of every day American life. They are really getting hit hard by this crisis. I recently read a detailed article (can't remember where) about the founders of Earthbound Farms and was so impressed.
You can read a little about Earthbound Farms here. There are lots of pages linked in the sidebars that are really interesting.
Personally, I'm craving fresh spinach. Power of suggestion, I guess. But this crisis really does point up how our food supply is a matter of national security. It odesn't take much to put a disastrous chain of effects in motion.
Praying for you, Alice!
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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stefoodie
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Glad you mentioned EF. Was just at their website yesterday looking for their spinach update because I had just bought a package the day before the news came out.
Praying for you and Theresa, Alice.
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Elizabeth
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Stef,
That update is really interesting because the press is getting it wrong. I saw a standup at Earthbound Farms. How sad--nothing quite like bad publicity. And it's also interesting that so far, the outbreak is limited to non-organic spinach...
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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Really Elizabeth? My husband is good friends with the owener of our local produce market, and he told him last night that Earthbound Farms is suspected to be one source. I threw out a big bin of it last night per his suggestion. We usually eat a spinach salad with our dinner each night. I will be very leary to go back to that practice.
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Elizabeth
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Lisbet wrote:
| Really Elizabeth? My husband is good friends with the owener of our local produce market, and he told him last night that Earthbound Farms is suspected to be one source. I threw out a big bin of it last night per his suggestion. We usually eat a spinach salad with our dinner each night. I will be very leary to go back to that practice. |
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Here's the press release the Stef linked:
Consumer Update from Earthbound Farm RE: e coli outbreak
SAN JUAN BAUTISTA, Calif., (September 18, 2006): The investigation into this e coli outbreak is on-going and consumers should continue to heed the FDA’s advice not to eat any spinach products until further notice.
Based on the preliminary information available in this on-going investigation, we have been advised by the US Food & Drug Administration and the California Department of Health Services that no organic products, including Earthbound Farm brand spinach or other products, have been linked to this outbreak at this time. This does not mean that organic products have been cleared.
At this point in the investigation, all of the manufacturing codes taken from spinach packaging retained by patients are from packages of conventional (non-organic) spinach. However, the investigation is still underway.
We would like to reiterate our concern for everyone who has fallen ill as a result of the current e coli outbreak. Our thoughts and prayers are with every one of them, and we and others in our industry are continuing to work with federal and state authorities to find the source of the contamination.
We will continue to provide updates as meaningful information becomes available.
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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Topic: Spinich and E. Coli
