FDA's Spinach Alert!

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
FDA's Spinach Alert!
5
Sun, 09-17-2006 - 7:02pm

Have just read this on msn-health, and thought it was something you all needed to know too.....



FDA Widens Spinach Warning

Government advises against eating unpackaged fresh spinach or any product containing spinach as number of E. coli cases reaches 102.

-- Barry Hoffman and Jeff Walsh

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iVillage Member
Registered: 12-04-2003
Mon, 09-18-2006 - 11:02am

Thanks IG!!

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-09-2003
Mon, 09-18-2006 - 11:08am
This kind of stinks! I like grabbing a bag of "salad" to get in some veggies and such. I don't get the spinach much but kind of scares me off all these type of things.


iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Mon, 09-18-2006 - 12:11pm
I know....those bags are just handy things to grab. I usually put them into a salad container once I get them home. At first I thought it was just 'loose' spinach, but then saw ALL those companies mentioned. Scary.

~IslandGirl




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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Mon, 09-25-2006 - 7:05pm

Ladies, here's an update on the Spinach Alert, taken from the CDC website. The copied part below is just a snippet from the link.


CDC Advice for Consumers

The following is advice for consumers about this outbreak:



  • Currently, we are advising consumers to not eat any fresh spinach or salad blends containing spinach grown in the three counties in California implicated in the current E. coli O157:H7 outbreak -- Monterey County, San Benito County, and Santa Clara County (see map of affected counties). Fresh spinach grown outside these counties can be safely eaten. Spinach grown in these counties is often packaged in other areas of the country. If consumers cannot tell where fresh spinach was grown, they are advised not to purchase or consume the fresh spinach. Frozen and canned spinach can be safely eaten.


  • E. coli O157:H7 in spinach can be killed by cooking at 160° Fahrenheit for 15 seconds. (Water boils at 212° Fahrenheit.) If spinach is cooked in a frying pan, and all parts do not reach 160° Fahrenheit, all bacteria may not be killed. If consumers choose to cook the spinach, they should not allow the raw spinach to contaminate other foods and food contact surfaces, and they should wash hands, utensils, and surfaces with hot, soapy water before and after handling the spinach.


  • Persons who develop diarrhea after consuming fresh spinach or salad blends containing fresh spinach are urged to contact their health care provider and ask that their stool specimen be tested for E. coli O157.


  • Persons who ate fresh spinach or salad blends and feel well do not need to see a health-care provider.

~IslandGirl



Back to Basics Challenge- Week 4: Love Yourself!


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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-29-2003
Wed, 09-27-2006 - 3:39pm

Just an FYI --

This didn't affect all packaged salads (spinach comes from different fields than say, Iceberg or Romaine, etc.). This only was products just ones that have spinach in them, or packaged spinach itself. Some companies are reformulating their products that used to have Spinach in them (ie: Spring Mix) to not include spinach at all. Also, not all spinach brands were implicated, but for safety measures the FDA had informed consumers to stay away from all spinach. Spinach will be back at the grocery stores shortly.

Don't stop buying packaged salads. They are fresh, easy, and convenient! I certainly won't stop buying them.

amy