November 1, 2006

Canada Opens Border to U.S. Spinach

– Canadian health officials have reopened the border to almost all shipments of spinach grown in the United States.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) banned U.S. spinach Sept. 15, following news of an outbreak of E. coli stemming from the product. CFIA is still restricting spinach grown in San Benito and Monterey counties in California, where the tainted spinach originated from.

Producers can only ship product to Canada if they can guarantee that it was not grown in either of those California counties. USDA has created an origin identification program to verify producers’ claims.

The restrictions will remain in place until the shipping season ends in San Benito and Monterey counties, which is expected to be late November. After that, all spinach will be allowed into Canada and the declarations of origin will not be needed.

CFIA said in a statement that the restrictions on the two California counties could be reinstated for the 2007 season unless strong food safety measures are taken. CFIA also has strengthened its sampling program for leafy greens coming into the country.


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