Word: spinach
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Shoppers changed their buying habits Saturday as spinach was pulled from grocery store shelves because of the outbreak of E. coli bacteria that had killed one person and sickened more than 100 others...
When the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning to consumers on Thursday about E. coli contamination in bagged spinach, it didn't come as a surprise to Michael Doyle. So far, about 100 people have fallen ill and one death has been connected to the dangerous E. coli 0157:H7 bacterial infection, and the director of food safety at the University of Georgia says that outbreaks like this one will only continue if produce manufacturers don't change their practices...
...coli 0157 is a particularly nasty strain of the E. coli that lives and thrives in our digestive tract. Animals such as cows tolerate 0157 far better than people, and often shed the bacteria in their feces. The bacteria can then infect crops such as lettuce, spinach, onions, or even apples when contaminated manure is used as fertilizer, or when contaminated water is used to irrigate fields. Most recently, E. coli 0157 found in bagged salads packaged by Dole sickened over two dozen people...
...afternoon. An epidemiologist at the state health department in Wisconsin had been investigating almost 20 reports of E. coli poisoning in a matter of days, and after some initial labwork and extensive interviews with the victims, all of whom had reported bloody diarrhea, the scientists there suspected that bagged spinach might be the culprit, and called Atlanta. Shortly after, Dr. Patricia Griffin, chief of enteric diseases at CDC, says that the agency received a call from an epidemiologist in the state health department in Oregon. He had five cases, also traced to bagged spinach, and wondered if anyone else...
...While it's still not clear exactly how the packaged spinach was contaminated, health officials suggest that no bagged spinach should be eaten raw. Cooking the leaves at 160 degrees Fahrenheit will kill the organisms, but washing, even in warm water, may not be enough to eliminate all of the bacteria that may have become embedded in the plant tissues when stalks or leaves are broken...