Infected Bag of Spinach Pinpointed

While the Earthbound Organics spinach was a red herring, scientists have conclusively isolated E. Coli from a bag of Dole baby spinach package. The LA Times has further info:

"A New Mexico laboratory was able to isolate potentially deadly bacteria in a bag of spinach that had sickened a resident — a step hailed Wednesday as a significant break in the search for the source of a nationwide E. coli outbreak.

The bag that tested positive was a Dole baby spinach package with a "best if used by" date of Aug. 30. It was one of the brands recalled Friday by Natural Selection, a produce grower and processor based in San Juan Bautista, Calif.

The federal Food and Drug Administration was sure enough that tainted spinach was behind the outbreak to warn consumers last week not to eat any fresh spinach or salad mixes containing it. But until the New Mexico test, its only evidence came from asking patients who fell ill what they had eaten. The New Mexico test confirmed the link to spinach.

It was a genetic match to the E. coli O157:H7 that has sickened 146 people in 23 states, killing one and sending 76 to the hospital. Twenty-three of them have severe kidney complications."

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No one knows where the spinach originally came from, but at least people now know which brands to be wary of.