Is it Popeye's Revenge?

For those of you outside the U.S., you may not be aware that August 15 marked the beginning of a serious outbreak of E.coli, linked to bagged spinach. The bacteria has been traced to a company called Natural Selection Foods in central California. As a result, supermarkets pulled fresh spinach from their shelves and many restaurants stopped serving fresh spinach dishes. The FDA lifted its ban on Popeye's favorite energy food on September 29. The sources have been identified, but the real cause has yet to be identified.

E.coli is commonly found in human and animal digestive tracts. If you pick it up, your normal stomach acid is probably tough enough to kill it off and you're none the wiser. But this particular strain (E. coli O157:H7) causes diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal cramps. It a more severe case it can cause "hemolytic uremic syndrome," a kidney ailment which is normally treated with intensive care and often requires blood transfusions and kidney dialysis. Two to 7 percent of infections lead to this syndrome, and of those infected, it has a mortality rate of 3-5%. Of the more than 180 people known to be infected, there is one known death and two "suspect cases" in which E. coli may have been the cause of death, but it's not yet certain.

The true source of the problem isn't known. The fact that the outbreak is so widely dispersed, known to have covered 27 states, indicates that contamination happened early in the distribution cycle - in other words, close to the farm in California.

Typically, E. coli is spread through feces contamination. So somehow the spinach came in contact with raw manure. This most likely happened through one of three ways: water, domestic or wild animal life, poor worker hygiene, or fertilizer. Water is getting the most blame, especially since rivers and creeks in the Salinas Valley area, where the spinach came from, have been known to be contaminated. In fact, California spinach was responsible for an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak in October 2003, where 16 people became ill and two died.

This is all background information, and it's been all over the news. The question I wanted to answer: Are we safer when we choose organic produce?

We know that the guilty spinach in this case was not sold under the "organic" label. But does that mean that the organic vegetables were protected somehow? My research tells me...it's going to take more research. I'll address that question in my next newsletter.

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