Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

FDA lifts spinach ban, product pulled until consumer safety ensured
By E. Ashley Wright
The California Aggie (UC-Davis)
10/02/2006

(U-WIRE) DAVIS, Calif. — The ban on fresh spinach grown in the state of California was lifted Friday after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave the OK for grocers to begin selling the product again.

The lift came after two weeks of reports that spinach grown in certain areas of California was infected with E. coli bacteria, an organism linked to several deaths and 187 illnesses throughout 20 states nationwide. However, after allowing grocers to restock the vegetable, the FDA warned consumers to be cautious and does not promise the risks to be entirely gone.

A bag of spinach containing the bacteria was discovered Sept. 21 and subsequently led to investigations surrounding product safety at several large spinach-distributing food retailers. As a result, all products containing spinach were pulled from shelves at most locations within the 20 states that were affected.

According to information released by the FDA, the E. coli strand found in the spinach, E. coli O157:H7, is especially resilient and dangerous even when consumed in small amounts. The administration's release reported that infected spinach originated in California.

"An outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 infection continues to be investigated," the report stated. "The FDA, in working closely with the CDC and the State of California, has determined that the fresh spinach implicated in the outbreak was grown in the following three California counties: Monterey, San Benito and Santa Clara."

The report added that consumers should not be concerned about frozen or canned spinach and should feel confident in eating spinach from areas not implicated in the current outbreak.

In addition to the costly health repercussions from the outbreak, California's spinach growers may be economically affected.

According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, Californians purchase nearly $250 million worth of fresh spinach each year, and growers in the state may see a dip in profits as the FDA-recommended ban on spinach has not yet been lifted.

In an effort to protect consumers, grocery retailers such as locally owned Nugget Market have removed all spinach products and offered rebates on items containing spinach that were purchased before the required recalls.

Brad Fritz, produce manager for Nugget Market, said the grocery retailer chose to err on the side of caution rather than risk the well-being of customers.

"The day the story hit the news — Sept. 15 — we threw all the spinach-containing products out," he said.

Fritz added that companies such as Fresh Express recalled their pre-packaged salad mixes and began providing the same mixes, with the spinach removed, to grocers in an effort to maintain sales. Fritz also said he feels consumers may still be cautious to eat spinach after retailers put it back on the shelves.

"People will still be scared for a while, but the media is doing a good job of letting people know what's safe," Fritz said.

Frankie Beegle, Nugget employee in the produce department, said that even with the ban lifted, spinach had not yet been restocked.

The University of California at Davis also reacted to the FDA's recommendations by removing spinach products from campus eateries.

According to Gina Rios, retail general manager for UC Davis dining services, Sodexho, has abstained from providing spinach until the illnesses subside.

"Right now we're not using any fresh spinach at all," she said. "We're using our national QA guidelines from Sodexho, which has a food safety department that will notify us to put things back in the dining halls."

Rios said there have been no complaints of illness due to E. coli-infected spinach on campus, and that dining services will act cautiously when considering serving spinach in the future.

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