E. coli exposes weak links in the food chain

WASHINGTON - The recent outbreak of E. coli in spinach fromCalifornia exposed a weakness in the nation's food chain: A systemthat quickly delivers meat, fruits and vegetables to consumers justas easily can spread potentially deadly bacteria.

Like most food, spinach travels from the field to a centralfacility where it mixes with spinach from other fields. If any istainted, the threat to people is amplified as leaves are washed,dried, bagged and shipped throughout the country.

Within days of the first reported E. coli-related case on Aug. 30,illness from the tainted California spinach had spread to two dozenstates. Nearly 200 people were sickened - one-third of them in thefirst 72 hours. An elderly woman and 2-year-old boy died.

"When you open a bag of spinach, do you wonder how many differentplants are in there, and how many different fields it came from?"said Robert Tauxe, chief of foodborne diseases at the federal Centersfor Disease Control and Prevention.

"If something went wrong on any one of those fields ... one rottenapple spoils the whole barrel," Tauxe said.

It was the 20th time lettuce or spinach has been blamed for anoutbreak of illness since 1995.

On Sunday, green leaf lettuce from the same growing area,California's Salinas Valley, was recalled in more than half a dozenstates after Nunes Co. Inc. discovered possible E. coli contaminationof irrigation water. The bacteria hasn't been found in the company'sFoxy brand lettuce. No illnesses have been reported.

Food safety advocates are calling for stringent regulations, andthey say a single agency should be in charge of making sure all foodis safe.

"If you raise spinach in the Salinas Valley and it's in 40 statesin a few days, you can't have a system that says we won't do anythinguntil somebody gets sick," said Carol Tucker Foreman, director offood policy for Consumer Federation and a former USDA official.

"Because look how many people get sick before you can even knowit," Foreman said.

The Food and Drug Administration has repeatedly told the entireindustry to get the problem under control, but FDA does not haveinspection or safety programs for produce like the AgricultureDepartment has for meat and poultry.

While the food system is vastly centralized, "what we don't haveis a centralized agency that's really in charge of ensuring that theproducts are safe," said Caroline Smith DeWaal, director of foodsafety for the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

An E. coli outbreak in 1993 was a painful demonstration ofweakness in the highly centralized beef supply chain. Hundreds ofpeople got sick and four children died after eating undercookedhamburgers from Jack in the Box restaurants.

The outbreak prompted the Agriculture Department to tighten safetystandards and expand government testing. And in 1996, it replaced itsold visual inspection with one that requires a scientific look atvulnerable places in the production chain and constant monitoring ofthose points.

Today, illnesses from E. coli are down 29 percent from when thegovernment tracking system began a decade ago, although illness ratesinched up from 2004 to 2005.

"It took a few years, but I think we have a really good handle onhow to control this organism," said Randy Huffman, vice president ofscience for the American Meat Institute, an industry group.

The company at the center of the spinach crisis, Natural SelectionFoods, has begun sampling every lot of greens and holding shipmentsuntil test results come back.

"Even if we nail this particular problem down to a certain point,I think it's really important to have that firewall in place, so nomatter where it might come from, we feel like we can catch it,"company spokeswoman Samantha Cabaluna said.

With beef, an important step was figuring out just howcontamination happened in the first place.

Government scientists discovered the primary source entered theslaughterhouse on the hides of cattle, and that it could transferdirectly to the surface of the meat.

Solving that mystery may be more critical for lettuce and spinachbecause - unlike beef - much of leafy produce is eaten raw and notcooked to temperatures that will kill E. coli.

So far, no one has determined the cause of nine outbreaks,including the one from late August, in lettuce and spinach grown inSalinas, Calif.

In the spinach case, the FBI has searched processing plants forevidence of problems and state investigators are looking intocontamination from manure, irrigation water or even workers relievingthemselves in fields.

In addition, it is unknown exactly where E. coli lurks in spinachand lettuce plants. Research suggests the bacteria can get inside thestems and leaves, Tauxe said, adding that more research is needed.

"It took the meat industry some years to get a grip on howcontamination was occurring during slaughter, and it will take sometime for the produce industry to get a better handle on this," Tauxesaid.

E. coli exposes weak links in the food chain

WASHINGTON - The recent outbreak of E. coli in spinach fromCalifornia exposed a weakness in the nation's food chain: A systemthat quickly delivers meat, fruits and vegetables to consumers justas easily can spread potentially deadly bacteria.

Like most food, spinach travels from the field to a centralfacility where it mixes with spinach from other fields. If any istainted, the threat to people is amplified as leaves are washed,dried, bagged and shipped throughout the country.

Within days of the first reported E. coli-related case on Aug. 30,illness from the tainted California spinach had spread to two dozenstates. Nearly 200 people were sickened - one-third of them in thefirst 72 hours. An elderly woman and 2-year-old boy died.

"When you open a bag of spinach, do you wonder how many differentplants are in there, and how many different fields it came from?"said Robert Tauxe, chief of foodborne diseases at the federal Centersfor Disease Control and Prevention.

"If something went wrong on any one of those fields ... one rottenapple spoils the whole barrel," Tauxe said.

It was the 20th time lettuce or spinach has been blamed for anoutbreak of illness since 1995.

On Sunday, green leaf lettuce from the same growing area,California's Salinas Valley, was recalled in more than half a dozenstates after Nunes Co. Inc. discovered possible E. coli contaminationof irrigation water. The bacteria hasn't been found in the company'sFoxy brand lettuce. No illnesses have been reported.

Food safety advocates are calling for stringent regulations, andthey say a single agency should be in charge of making sure all foodis safe.

"If you raise spinach in the Salinas Valley and it's in 40 statesin a few days, you can't have a system that says we won't do anythinguntil somebody gets sick," said Carol Tucker Foreman, director offood policy for Consumer Federation and a former USDA official.

"Because look how many people get sick before you can even knowit," Foreman said.

The Food and Drug Administration has repeatedly told the entireindustry to get the problem under control, but FDA does not haveinspection or safety programs for produce like the AgricultureDepartment has for meat and poultry.

While the food system is vastly centralized, "what we don't haveis a centralized agency that's really in charge of ensuring that theproducts are safe," said Caroline Smith DeWaal, director of foodsafety for the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

An E. coli outbreak in 1993 was a painful demonstration ofweakness in the highly centralized beef supply chain. Hundreds ofpeople got sick and four children died after eating undercookedhamburgers from Jack in the Box restaurants.

The outbreak prompted the Agriculture Department to tighten safetystandards and expand government testing. And in 1996, it replaced itsold visual inspection with one that requires a scientific look atvulnerable places in the production chain and constant monitoring ofthose points.

Today, illnesses from E. coli are down 29 percent from when thegovernment tracking system began a decade ago, although illness ratesinched up from 2004 to 2005.

"It took a few years, but I think we have a really good handle onhow to control this organism," said Randy Huffman, vice president ofscience for the American Meat Institute, an industry group.

The company at the center of the spinach crisis, Natural SelectionFoods, has begun sampling every lot of greens and holding shipmentsuntil test results come back.

"Even if we nail this particular problem down to a certain point,I think it's really important to have that firewall in place, so nomatter where it might come from, we feel like we can catch it,"company spokeswoman Samantha Cabaluna said.

With beef, an important step was figuring out just howcontamination happened in the first place.

Government scientists discovered the primary source entered theslaughterhouse on the hides of cattle, and that it could transferdirectly to the surface of the meat.

Solving that mystery may be more critical for lettuce and spinachbecause - unlike beef - much of leafy produce is eaten raw and notcooked to temperatures that will kill E. coli.

So far, no one has determined the cause of nine outbreaks,including the one from late August, in lettuce and spinach grown inSalinas, Calif.

In the spinach case, the FBI has searched processing plants forevidence of problems and state investigators are looking intocontamination from manure, irrigation water or even workers relievingthemselves in fields.

In addition, it is unknown exactly where E. coli lurks in spinachand lettuce plants. Research suggests the bacteria can get inside thestems and leaves, Tauxe said, adding that more research is needed.

"It took the meat industry some years to get a grip on howcontamination was occurring during slaughter, and it will take sometime for the produce industry to get a better handle on this," Tauxesaid.

E. coli exposes weak links in the food chain

WASHINGTON - The recent outbreak of E. coli in spinach fromCalifornia exposed a weakness in the nation's food chain: A systemthat quickly delivers meat, fruits and vegetables to consumers justas easily can spread potentially deadly bacteria.

Like most food, spinach travels from the field to a centralfacility where it mixes with spinach from other fields. If any istainted, the threat to people is amplified as leaves are washed,dried, bagged and shipped throughout the country.

Within days of the first reported E. coli-related case on Aug. 30,illness from the tainted California spinach had spread to two dozenstates. Nearly 200 people were sickened - one-third of them in thefirst 72 hours. An elderly woman and 2-year-old boy died.

"When you open a bag of spinach, do you wonder how many differentplants are in there, and how many different fields it came from?"said Robert Tauxe, chief of foodborne diseases at the federal Centersfor Disease Control and Prevention.

"If something went wrong on any one of those fields ... one rottenapple spoils the whole barrel," Tauxe said.

It was the 20th time lettuce or spinach has been blamed for anoutbreak of illness since 1995.

On Sunday, green leaf lettuce from the same growing area,California's Salinas Valley, was recalled in more than half a dozenstates after Nunes Co. Inc. discovered possible E. coli contaminationof irrigation water. The bacteria hasn't been found in the company'sFoxy brand lettuce. No illnesses have been reported.

Food safety advocates are calling for stringent regulations, andthey say a single agency should be in charge of making sure all foodis safe.

"If you raise spinach in the Salinas Valley and it's in 40 statesin a few days, you can't have a system that says we won't do anythinguntil somebody gets sick," said Carol Tucker Foreman, director offood policy for Consumer Federation and a former USDA official.

"Because look how many people get sick before you can even knowit," Foreman said.

The Food and Drug Administration has repeatedly told the entireindustry to get the problem under control, but FDA does not haveinspection or safety programs for produce like the AgricultureDepartment has for meat and poultry.

While the food system is vastly centralized, "what we don't haveis a centralized agency that's really in charge of ensuring that theproducts are safe," said Caroline Smith DeWaal, director of foodsafety for the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

An E. coli outbreak in 1993 was a painful demonstration ofweakness in the highly centralized beef supply chain. Hundreds ofpeople got sick and four children died after eating undercookedhamburgers from Jack in the Box restaurants.

The outbreak prompted the Agriculture Department to tighten safetystandards and expand government testing. And in 1996, it replaced itsold visual inspection with one that requires a scientific look atvulnerable places in the production chain and constant monitoring ofthose points.

Today, illnesses from E. coli are down 29 percent from when thegovernment tracking system began a decade ago, although illness ratesinched up from 2004 to 2005.

"It took a few years, but I think we have a really good handle onhow to control this organism," said Randy Huffman, vice president ofscience for the American Meat Institute, an industry group.

The company at the center of the spinach crisis, Natural SelectionFoods, has begun sampling every lot of greens and holding shipmentsuntil test results come back.

"Even if we nail this particular problem down to a certain point,I think it's really important to have that firewall in place, so nomatter where it might come from, we feel like we can catch it,"company spokeswoman Samantha Cabaluna said.

With beef, an important step was figuring out just howcontamination happened in the first place.

Government scientists discovered the primary source entered theslaughterhouse on the hides of cattle, and that it could transferdirectly to the surface of the meat.

Solving that mystery may be more critical for lettuce and spinachbecause - unlike beef - much of leafy produce is eaten raw and notcooked to temperatures that will kill E. coli.

So far, no one has determined the cause of nine outbreaks,including the one from late August, in lettuce and spinach grown inSalinas, Calif.

In the spinach case, the FBI has searched processing plants forevidence of problems and state investigators are looking intocontamination from manure, irrigation water or even workers relievingthemselves in fields.

In addition, it is unknown exactly where E. coli lurks in spinachand lettuce plants. Research suggests the bacteria can get inside thestems and leaves, Tauxe said, adding that more research is needed.

"It took the meat industry some years to get a grip on howcontamination was occurring during slaughter, and it will take sometime for the produce industry to get a better handle on this," Tauxesaid.