FDA to Narrow Scope of E. coli Investigation by Friday, Sept. 22
According to the Produce Marketing Association (PMA) on Sept. 20, the FDA will narrow down the source of E. coli contamination to a specific growing area in 24 to 48 hours.
Investigators told PMA that they were focusing on nine farms in the Salinas Valley. Packaging codes from contaminated spinach indicated that the product was harvested there a few weeks ago. Once a region is isolated, steps will be taken to get spinach from other growing areas back on the market.
“The goal in the next 24 to 48 hours is to try to limit this down to a specific growing region in California and then try to find a mechanism, working with industry, to see if we can get spinach from other areas of the country that are clearly not implicated in the outbreak back on the market in a safe way,” said David Acheson of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.
To date, 131 cases of E. coli infection in 21 states have been confirmed, including 66 hospitalizations, 20 cases of kidney failure and one death. FDA has not confirmed the cause of the contamination, and is still advising consumers to avoid eating spinach or salad mixes containing spinach.
Health officials in California began testing fields Sept. 18, but results from those tests take eight to 10 days.
An additional recall was also announced in the E. coli outbreak. RLB Food Distributors, West Caldwell, N.J., has issued a voluntary recall of salad products that could contain tainted spinach. RLB Foods’ products were distributed in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia and Washington, D.C.
The spinach was supplied by Natural Selection Foods, San Juan Bautista, Calif. Natural Selections issued a recall of all of its spinach products Sept. 15.
The products affected by the recall have an “Enjoy Thru” date of Sept. 20 or earlier. The recalled salads are:
• Balducci’s Mesclun Mix 5 oz.
• Balducci’s Organic Baby Spinach 5 oz.
• Balducci’s Mixed Greens 5 oz.
• FreshPro Mesclun Mix 5 oz.
• FreshPro Organic Baby Spinach 5 oz.
• FreshPro Mixed Greens 5 oz.
• FreshPro Salad Mix with Italian Dressing 4.75 oz.
• FreshPro Salad Mix with Ranch Dressing 5.25 oz.
No illnesses have been reported involving the RLB Food products.
