Self-Regulation Called Insufficient To Avoid Outbreak
By Annys Shin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Federal food safety officials said fresh spinach is "as safe as it was before the outbreak," even though investigators have not determined the cause of a deadly E. coli outbreak.
FDA officials said yesterday that consumers should continue to avoid spinach recalled Sept. 14 by Natural Selection Foods LLC, a fresh produce processor based in San Juan Bautista, Calif. Four other companies have recalled spinach they got from Natural Selection.
But officials cleared spinach grown in the Salinas Valley, after warning consumers for the past week not to eat spinach from that area.
"Based on where we are at this point in the investigation, spinach is as safe as it was before this event," David Acheson, a top FDA food safety official, said yesterday.
"The outbreak seems to be winding down," said Howard Backer, acting public health officer for the state of California.
Food safety officials are considering ways the industry can prevent outbreaks, including more regulation.
The spinach recalled was sold in bags or plastic containers under more than 30 brands, including Dole, Ready Pac and Safeway O Organics and had "best if used by" dates of Aug. 17 through Oct. 1.
The latest outbreak, which has sickened 187 people and killed at least one in 26 states, is the 20th E. coli outbreak in leafy greens over the past 10 years and the ninth traced to the Salinas Valley. It is the second tied to spinach.
Though investigators have not found a specific source of E. coli contamination in any of the previous outbreaks, food safety officials suspect "there is a chronic cause of contamination in the Salinas Valley," said Kevin Reilly, deputy director of prevention services for the California Department of Health Services.
As a result, he cautioned that another outbreak was possible and joined Acheson in urging the fresh produce industry to come up with better practices to prevent contamination. FDA and California health officials regulate food processing plants, but produce growers largely police themselves and follow voluntary guidelines.
"We can't leave it at status quo," Reilly said. "The implementation of these practices hasn't worked to prevent outbreaks."
Acheson said food safety officials are considering all of their options, including new regulations for growers.
"One of the things to determine is whether those guidelines are where they should be. . . . At some point, do there need to be regulations invoked?" he said.
FDA's announcement yesterday cleared the way for spinach from Salinas Valley to return to supermarket shelves.
"There will be product ready. We'll just have to see what consumer demand is," said Bob Perkins, executive director of the Monterey County Farm Bureau.
Some supermarkets have already begun selling spinach. Earlier this week, Giant Food resumed offering bagged savoy spinach, a variety grown in the central and eastern United States. It has no plans to start selling bagged spinach from California, said spokesman Jamie Miller.
Food Lion plans to begin restocking spinach this weekend or early next week, said spokesman Jeff Lowrance.
Safeway plans to start selling bagged spinach again Tuesday or Wednesday, said spokesman Greg TenEyck.
Natural Selection also plans to resume processing spinach, even as one of its plants is shut down because it is under investigation. So far, testing at that plant by the FDA, California Department of Health Services and independent auditors has not turned up any trace of E. coli , said Natural Selection spokeswoman Samantha Cabaluna.
The company will probably not have spinach available until early to mid-November, after it switches to winter operations in Yuma, Ariz., Cabaluna said.
As about two dozen investigators carried on the search for the outbreak's source, food safety officials reiterated yesterday that they may never find a specific cause. So far, health officials have confirmed the presence of the outbreak strain of E. coli in seven bags of spinach provided by victims. Lot codes on at least three bags indicate they contained spinach washed and packaged on the same day, Aug. 15, Reilly said.
All the bags contained Dole conventional spinach.
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