E. Coli Attack Prompts Spinach to Be Pulled

[Sweet_VeeVee24]

Here in Wisconsin, we are once again battling E.Coli...several people in the area, or near the area where I live have gotten very ill, and today on the news, they are having all grocery stores in the Milwaukee area, as well as other areas, to pull packaged spinach off of the vegetable shelves.

I guess they are saying that packages of spinach that was grown and shipped from California could be a cause for the E.Coli (that's what the reporter is stating on my local news).

Also, a family who's daughter got gravely ill after eating at a restaurant are still in court after filing a lawsuit against the restaurant for unsanitary conditions..

[Soapsuds]

Good thing I dont like Spinach.

[alwaysAMC]

I saw this on the news this morning - it sucks bc I always use spinach for my salads....

[Toadstool]

not to red alert everyone but I just read that only ten microbes of this virus can be fatal, it essentially kills the kidneys.

[Sweet_VeeVee24]

I know that I eat spinach in salads, but I haven't done that in awhile....

It's the funniest thing (not about E.Coli), but I can't stand cooked spinach, but I can eat it in Italian cooked dishes and in salads...

I hope those that have gotten sick are alright...I heard one woman is suing Dole for getting sick after eating packaged spinach.

[Ms. Walsh]

Great. I ate spinach twice this week (Tuesday and yesterday), but my school buys from local growers, so it most likely wasn't packaged. They didn't serve salads here today though.

Did they mention anything about cases in Massachusetts? B/c between the West Nile Virus and Triple E outbreaks here, the last thing I need to start worrying about is spinach.

[Sweet_VeeVee24]

They just announced that a 77 year old lady from Manitowoc died from an outbreak of E.Coli, she ate spinach.... Also, there are 30 cases in Wisconsin....Plus they said, even washing packaged spinach will not kill E.Coli. They also tell folks that have very weak immune systems (elderly, children, etc) to be extremely careful...

They are stressing that washing hands regulary, washing fruits and vegetables thoroughly and making sure ground meat is cooked all the way.

[Matt]

This sounds very similar to the green onion fiasco from a few years back where tainted green onions (chives) killed a bunch of people and put Chi-Chi's out of business. I remember that, at the time, nearly every restaurant in my town stopped using chives for *anything* and most still don't offer chives to this day.

[Sweet_VeeVee24]

I didn't know that was one of the reasons why Chi-Chi's went out of business, and I ate there quite often. Pretty soon, they most likely will find other foods that has E.Coli...I have to make sure to keep an eye on my grandmother.....I still remember when we had that whole krytosperidium matter here back some many years back...Having to boil water to use for drinking and enduring having my school closed for at least a week because of it.

[R!ck]

Eeek I had Spinach and artichoke dip on Monday, spinach in my salad on tuesday and spinach with bacon and vinegar tonight

Guess I will be looking at the package now to make sure it's not from Cali.

[Sweet_VeeVee24]

I know on the news they were talking about the lady who ate spinach and got sick, said that her spinach was packaged by Dole...so I don't know if various packaging companies are getting the spinach shipped from Cali or what....from what I saw, the stores here that were interviewed were taking down all types of packaged spinach.

[KMan101]

Aren't they pulling it everywhere? In Florida it's been all over the news too.

Thank god I'm allergic to it! LOL. Well ... er ... lol, you know what I mean.

[poohbear19]

I just saw this on the news today, here in my area in Texas... all supermarkets are pulling spinach from their shelfs. I haven't had spinach in a while, but this sucks because the only way I'll eat spinach is uncooked. How did E Coli get on the spinach?

[Sweet_VeeVee24]

I'm wondering that myself...how does E.Coli get on food? I know they are telling everyone to cook their ground meats thoroughly.

[rxcats]

The E. coli that is pathogenic in humans (0157:H7 strain) usually comes from cattle feces. Using cow manure (organic fertilizer) is one way in which produce becomes contaminated. Ground meat often becomes contaminated because bits of the cattle intestines (and feces) may be ground into the meat. Cooking things well will kill the bacterim, but washing it will not. There are about 73,000 cases of E. coli reported annually to the CDC (Center for Disease Control) and about 61 deaths (or about 1 death for every 1,250 cases). Most deaths occur in the very old or otherwise unhealthy people such as those that are immunocompromised. Most people just "get over it". Many people probably get E. coli and never realized that that is what they had. They just figure that they had the stomach flu for about a week. It is certainly reasonable to contact your physician if you develop severe diarrhea and have eaten spinach within the last 8 days, but I personally would not loose any sleep over it if I was not having any symptoms.