Eat your spinach?
What about frozen and canned spinach?
Frozen spinach is blanched in boiling water before it's packed; canned spinach is heated to 250 degrees. Both processes should kill any lingering bacteria.
Am I better off buying heads of lettuce or spinach and washing it myself?
Food-safety experts are divided on this, with some arguing that contamination could be more widely spread in a facility that washes and bags thousands of pounds of produce in a day. But most experts say that the triple-washing process used for bag produce is far more effective than the typical home wash, and that having produce bagged eliminates the risk of contamination in transport and at the supermarket. Many processors also dip greens in a sanitizing solution, usually chlorine. However, those processes clearly haven't been enough to eliminate the risk. "There's no magic bullet, unless you cook it," says Doug Powell, associate professor and scientific director of the Food Safety Network at Kansas State University.
The very nature of leafy greens may be part of the problem. Unlike apples, lettuce and spinach leaves are rough, with crevices where bacteria can linger despite washing. The leaves may also absorb contaminated water, pulling bacteria inside the leaf where it is impossible to wash off.
What's the government doing about this?
Investigators from the CDC, FDA, and state and local health departments are tracing back the spinach eaten by victims to specific farms and processing plants, in an effort to pinpoint the source of the outbreak. That process began Sept. 8, when Wisconsin health officials called the CDC to report four cases of hemolytic-uremic syndrome, an unusually high number. On Sept. 14, the investigators concluded that fresh spinach was the most likely source of the E. coli outbreak. Investigators started checking Salinas Valley farms on Monday. Epidemiological investigations are painstaking, and often difficult, because of the many potential sources of contamination, and the fact that the prime evidence was eaten days before the victims got sick.
The USDA continuously inspects all slaughterhouses in an effort to reduce E. coli contamination in meat. But the Food and Drug Administration, which has oversight of food safety for fresh fruit and vegetables, does not have a similar inspection or enforcement program. "In light of continuing outbreaks, it is clear more needs to be done," Bob Brackett, director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Sciences, told lettuce growers last November. Last month, the FDA issued a "Lettuce Safety Initiative," calling for more visits to farms and processing plants. "I'd like to see a robust program where everyone's thinking food safety 24-7," says Powell. "There are a lot of good growers, but you're only as good as your weakest link."
Consumer groups say more vigorous oversight is needed. "At this point we don't have a solution," says Dean Cliver, professor of food safety at the University of California-Davis. "It's really troubling."
Should I stop eating salad?
No, say nutritionists; the health benefits still outweigh the risks. But those risks do exist. People worried about potential E. coli contamination in salad greens can switch to cooked spinach, kale, and broccoli and reap the same health benefits.
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