Spinach and E.coli - What next?
Don't take my spinach away. I love spinach. Popeye loves spinach. Kids are often not thrilled about it, but it is an excellent source of iron and other important nutrients. I went to my favorite salad bar the day of the nationwide recall of the contaminated raw spinach (before hearing the news) and wolfed down an impressive share of this tasty vegetable. On the way back to work, I heard about the recall on the car radio. E.coli happens.
E.coli is not an Internet cola drink, but a common type of bacteria that resides in all of us. E.coli is an important intestinal bacteria that helps us process our foods. As long as it remains in our intestines, it poses no harm, but when it ventures out into the world, crap happens.
There are various subtypes of E.coli; some are basically harmless. Some can kill you. As a matter of fact, there has been one reported death related to the spinach contamination, as well as hundreds that became ill with an array of intestinal symptoms, such as vomiting and explosive diarrhea. Many people required intravenous fluids to maintain hydration; others spent a great deal of time in the bathroom reading magazines, or for the technologically advantaged, using a laptop computer to search the Net about this outbreak. No, this is not called a craptop computer.
E.coli often makes it into our meat supply; primarily ground beef. It is rare that a restaurant will ask you how you would like your burger. They automatically cook it well done now. Fast-food establishments that were hit by lawsuits years ago when patrons were served E.coli-contaminated beef have made some serious adjustments in the kitchen. The teenage cooks are now using gloves; and those burgers are cooked to a temperature that would kill anything.
I have spent a great deal of time in the Central Valley of California where there are beautiful spinach fields as far as the eye can see. I am always impressed since I have never been able to grow spinach in my own garden, and yet there are acres and acres flourishing a few hours south of where I live. I have often been tempted to shovel a truck load of that soil in the back of my pickup and speed away.
Those fields are also filled with migrant workers picking the spinach and loading up those crates on trucks. There may not be a building in sight, so where do these workers relieve themselves? Organic farms use organic fertilizer. Need I say more? Granted, most of the fertilizers come from liquified, composted cow manure. The Central Valley is also blessed with some HUGE feed lots that you can smell from miles away, so there is a ready supply. Cow poop also has E.coli, folks.
The spinach is then quickly transported to the packing plants, where it is washed (sort of), unappetizing leaves removed, and then bagged. Within a day, sometimes hours, it can be sitting on the shelves at your local grocery store. This is a very impressive operation, and in most cases, the process is flawless. But, crap happens.
Was the washing water contaminated? How about the hands of the human spinach sorters? There are numerous steps where contamination can happen. I am sure that this recall cost companies MILLIONS, and it will likely take millions more to reduce the chances it will happen again. Unfortunately, it will happen again.
All of the mothers in my practice freaked out and chucked out all of their jarred spinach baby food. This was probably not necessary, since the heat involved in the processing of baby food will kill E.coli and other bacterial contaminants.
My wife made lasagna last night loaded with spinach (from frozen). I trusted that the oven destroyed any rogue E.coli. I have been to restaurants three more times since the recall and certainly miss spinach on sandwiches and salads, but I am not going to take any chances. As you know, I am suspicious of restaurant cleanliness anyway.
When fresh bagged spinach returns, I will most definitely wash the crap out of it before eating it again.
Related Topics: Foods to Avoid When You're Pregnant, WebMD Video: Grill Meat Safely
Technorati Tags: spinach recall, e.coli, bacteria
E.coli is not an Internet cola drink, but a common type of bacteria that resides in all of us. E.coli is an important intestinal bacteria that helps us process our foods. As long as it remains in our intestines, it poses no harm, but when it ventures out into the world, crap happens.
There are various subtypes of E.coli; some are basically harmless. Some can kill you. As a matter of fact, there has been one reported death related to the spinach contamination, as well as hundreds that became ill with an array of intestinal symptoms, such as vomiting and explosive diarrhea. Many people required intravenous fluids to maintain hydration; others spent a great deal of time in the bathroom reading magazines, or for the technologically advantaged, using a laptop computer to search the Net about this outbreak. No, this is not called a craptop computer.
E.coli often makes it into our meat supply; primarily ground beef. It is rare that a restaurant will ask you how you would like your burger. They automatically cook it well done now. Fast-food establishments that were hit by lawsuits years ago when patrons were served E.coli-contaminated beef have made some serious adjustments in the kitchen. The teenage cooks are now using gloves; and those burgers are cooked to a temperature that would kill anything.
I have spent a great deal of time in the Central Valley of California where there are beautiful spinach fields as far as the eye can see. I am always impressed since I have never been able to grow spinach in my own garden, and yet there are acres and acres flourishing a few hours south of where I live. I have often been tempted to shovel a truck load of that soil in the back of my pickup and speed away.Those fields are also filled with migrant workers picking the spinach and loading up those crates on trucks. There may not be a building in sight, so where do these workers relieve themselves? Organic farms use organic fertilizer. Need I say more? Granted, most of the fertilizers come from liquified, composted cow manure. The Central Valley is also blessed with some HUGE feed lots that you can smell from miles away, so there is a ready supply. Cow poop also has E.coli, folks.
The spinach is then quickly transported to the packing plants, where it is washed (sort of), unappetizing leaves removed, and then bagged. Within a day, sometimes hours, it can be sitting on the shelves at your local grocery store. This is a very impressive operation, and in most cases, the process is flawless. But, crap happens.
Was the washing water contaminated? How about the hands of the human spinach sorters? There are numerous steps where contamination can happen. I am sure that this recall cost companies MILLIONS, and it will likely take millions more to reduce the chances it will happen again. Unfortunately, it will happen again.
All of the mothers in my practice freaked out and chucked out all of their jarred spinach baby food. This was probably not necessary, since the heat involved in the processing of baby food will kill E.coli and other bacterial contaminants.
My wife made lasagna last night loaded with spinach (from frozen). I trusted that the oven destroyed any rogue E.coli. I have been to restaurants three more times since the recall and certainly miss spinach on sandwiches and salads, but I am not going to take any chances. As you know, I am suspicious of restaurant cleanliness anyway.
When fresh bagged spinach returns, I will most definitely wash the crap out of it before eating it again.
Related Topics: Foods to Avoid When You're Pregnant, WebMD Video: Grill Meat Safely
Technorati Tags: spinach recall, e.coli, bacteria
7 Comments:
How about buying spinach locally & forgetting about that super-processed spinach packets that stay fresh for like a month? (how do they do that?)
I think people should buy locally & this is another prime example of why.
Buying locally is fine, but you still need to know HOW this spinach is grown. Washing spinach can only do so much. In this recall incident, some of the E.coli was INSIDE of the spinach. In other words, the bacteria was drawn into the plant as it was growing.
On the larger picture, our food in the U.S. is inherently safe....but accidents and breeches in sanitation practices still occur.
Should I stay away from all lettuces as well? Bagged or fresh?
I thought composted cow manure didn't have e.coli or other "bugs". Does this mean the organically grown is not as safe as the conventionally grown?
E. Coli Cases Traced to Bagged Spinach
Bacteria Kills One, Sickens Dozens in Eight States
WASHINGTON (Sept. 15) - An outbreak of E. coli in eight states has left at least one person dead and 50 others sick, federal health officials said Thursday in warning consumers nationwide not to eat bagged fresh spinach. The death occurred in Wisconsin, where 20 people were made ill, state officials said. The outbreak has sickened others - eight of them seriously - in Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, New Mexico, Oregon and Utah, according to federal health officials. In California, state health officials were investigating a possible case that could be linked to the outbreak and warned consumers not to eat the produce.
All this can be avoided!!! There are machines out there that can PREVENT this from happening. They are called Pure Prep and Cuisine Clean. We have to keep our loved ones save and this is the way to go. I clean all my vegetables and fruits this way to avoid such outbreaks. To get one of these items click on this website and order one today....
http://www.vesture.com
So far, bagged lettuce is fine. As far as E.coli absent from compost, then yes, compost IS safe; assuming it is WELL-COMPOSTED and prepared in a proper manner. I use steer manure myself in the garden. At the present time, I have no heard that a SOURCE for the E.coli was identified; human or bovine.
I love Spinach and I've been eating it on a regular basis I haven't taken ill.I live in one of the sttates where the e-coli breakout was.
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