Grocers are going the extra mile to bring people back to spinach after several weeks where the leafy green favorite of cartoon hero Popeye could not be found outside of the freezer section.
“We started spinach ? savoy spinach ? back on our shelves this Wednesday,” said Giant corporate spokesman Jamie Miller, based in Landover. “It?s produced in Canada and Colorado, so it?s not subject to the FDA ban.”
Store managers have placed signs reassuring spinach-lovers about the origins of their offerings, hoping to recover some of the revenue they lost during the last two weeks.
The Food and Drug Administration announced problems related to a particularly virulent strain of E. coli ? O157:H7 ? related to people eating fresh-bagged spinach Sept. 14.
Maryland health workers have confirmed three cases linked to that strain, including one unidentified Harford County child. An E. coli-related death in Hagerstown has not been linked to the outbreak. To date, 183 cases of illness in 26 states and Canada due to E. coli infection were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including 29 cases involving kidney damage, 95 hospitalizations and one death.
Escherichia coli O157:H7 commonly lives in the intestines and feces of cows and is a leading cause of foodborne illness. Based on a Centers for Disease Control estimate, 73,000 cases of infection and 61 deaths occur in the United States each year, though those numbers have been going down over time. Infection often causes bloody diarrhea, kidney failure and death.
The FDA determined the spinach implicated in the outbreak came from three California counties: Monterey, San Benito and Santa Clara. “The public can be confident that spinach grown in the non-implicated areas can be consumed,” the FDA reported this week. Other produce grown in these counties, as well as processed or frozen spinach, was not implicated.
Consumers are advised not to purchase or eat fresh, raw spinach if they cannot verify its origin.
Food processors in Oregon, California and New Jersey began recalling or pulling products grown in these regions as early as Sept. 14.
