Re: But I live on raw spinach!

I do too. Do you wash all bagged salads? I haven't ever, but maybe it's
time I start.
With hope and heart,
Kathleen
PS. I saw that meter flash! Go YOU!
--
He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn,
or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other.
~ C.S.Lewis



And I just finished and bought a new bag last night... :-(
___________________________________________________

E. coli cases traced to bagged spinach

By ANDREW BRIDGES, Associated Press Writer
10 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - 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 others were also sickened,
said Dr. David Acheson of the
Food and Drug Administration's Center for Food Safety and Applied
Nutrition. The outbreak has sickened others ? eight of them seriously ?
in Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, New Mexico, Oregon and Utah.

FDA officials do not know the source of the outbreak other than it
appears to be linked to bagged spinach. "We're advising people not to
eat it," Acheson said.

The outbreak has affected a mix of ages, but most of the cases have
involved women, Acheson told reporters in a conference call. He had no
further information on the person who died.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Wisconsin health
officials alerted the FDA about the outbreak Wednesday. Preliminary
analysis suggests the same bug is responsible for the outbreak in all
eight states.

The warning applied to consumers nationwide because of uncertainty over
the origin of the tainted spinach and how widely it was distributed.

Health officials do not know of any link to a specific growing region,
grower, brand or supplier, Acheson said.

He said reports of infections have been growing.

"It's increasing by the day," Acheson said. "We may be at the peak, we
may not be."

E. coli causes diarrhea, often with bloody stools. Most healthy adults
can recover completely within a week, although some people ? including
the very young and old ? can develop a form of kidney failure that often
leads to death.

Anyone who has gotten sick after eating raw packaged spinach should
contact a doctor, officials said.

Other bagged vegetables, including prepackaged salads, apparently are
not affected. In general, however, washing all bagged vegetables is
recommended.

E. coli lives in the intestines of cattle and other animals and
typically is linked to contamination by fecal material. It causes an
estimated 73,000 cases of infection, including 61 deaths, each year in
the United States, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention.

Sources of the bacterium include uncooked produce, raw milk,
unpasteurized juice, contaminated water and meat, especially undercooked
or raw hamburger, the agency says on its Web site.

In December 2005, an E. coli outbreak sickened at least eight children
in Washington state. Officials traced the outbreak to unpasteurized milk
from a dairy that had been ordered to stop distributing raw milk.

Last October, the FDA warned people not to eat certain Dole prepackaged
salads that were connected to an outbreak of E. coli infections in
Minnesota. At least 11 people were sickened.

In 1993, a major E. coli outbreak sickened about 700 people and killed
four who ate undercooked Jack in the Box hamburgers in Washington state.
That outbreak led to tighter Agriculture Department safety standards for
meat and poultry producers.

___

On the Net:
CDC E. coli information:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/escherichiacoli_g.htm


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