2006 Spinach E.Coli Breakout

In 2006 the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning to consumers on the E.Coli contamination of bagged spinach. Alice Park of Time Magazine wrote an article shortly after the announcement called How Ready-to-Eat Spinach Is Only Part of the E.Coli Problem. The article discusses E.Coli and how now all fruits and vegetables could be subject to food-borne diseases. She touches on the ideas that the cause of the food-borne disease on fruits and vegetables is in direct connection to how the manufacturer handles their product.

In her article Park states, “So far, about 100 people have fallen ill and one death has been connected to the dangerous E. coli 0157:H7 bacterial infection, and the director of food safety at the University of Georgia says that outbreaks like this one will only continue if produce manufacturers don't change their practices.”

E.Coli 0157 is a very damaging strain of the disease because it thrives on our digestive tract. Park says, “E. coli 0157 is a particularly nasty strain of the E. coli that lives and thrives in our digestive tract. Animals such as cows tolerate 0157 far better than people, and often shed the bacteria in their feces. The bacteria can then infect crops such as lettuce, spinach, onions, or even apples when contaminated manure is used as fertilizer, or when contaminated water is used to irrigate fields. Most recently, E. coli 0157 found in bagged salads packaged by Dole sickened over two dozen people in 2005.”

The matter of the fact seems to be that due to manufacturers trying to streamline production and cut costs that other foods aside from meat have become subject to food-borne disease. The article says, “FDA sees it as a dangerous practice that could contribute to contamination. Two to three years ago, I was asked to go out and view what was going on in the fields when there was an outbreak associated with a fast food restaurant chain from their cut-up lettuce," he told TIME." Every company at the time was using the same concept to process head lettuce — they would core the lettuce in the field, remove the outside leaves, and put it in chlorinated water. The goal is to reduce costs, because you don't have to take the waste from the factory and bring it back to the field. The problem is, they are working out in the dirt. There are so many different ways that E. coli can get into the food this way."

I do feel that food-borne disease is certainly a subject matter that should not be taken lightly. I don’t feel manufacturers should be greatly cutting costs for their sake, they need to consider their consumer. To avoid an outbreak like this we need to correctly pick, pack, and ship products.

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1535476,00.html