E. Coli Spinach Outbreak Hard to Solve

Say experts, according to Penn State:

"As the U.S. Food and Drug Administration narrows the search for the cause of a nationwide outbreak of E. coli 0157:H7 tied to bagged spinach, a specialist in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences said the incident may lead to tighter controls on food safety at the farm level.

Luke LaBorde, an associate professor of food science who studies food-safety issues associated with fruits and vegetables, said the FDA has been concerned about green, leafy vegetables having more than their share of contamination problems.

"The FDA had been focusing on lettuce, and now they've added spinach to their 'alert list' of commodities," LaBorde said. "Once investigators determine how this occurred, the next step will be to find new methods to prevent this from happening again."

Only fresh spinach grown in three California counties is implicated in the outbreak. It is uncertain to what extent fresh bunched spinach is involved, so the FDA has extended the advisory to include all types of fresh spinach grown in the counties. Processed spinach (e.g., frozen or canned) is not implicated in this outbreak.

"The problem of foodborne disease linked to produce isn't new -- there have been several outbreaks in the last several years, several attributed to leafy greens," he added. "But I believe this is one of the few involving fresh, pre-washed, bagged spinach. It's very rare, but the consequences of this bacterium can be devastating, and that's why we're so worried about it."

One of the government's options is to increase the level of oversight on the farm. Currently, LaBorde said, regulation is limited to the processor, but federal agencies are considering extending it down through the food system to the producer, as well."

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Blah blah, all this means is the government now has a reason to get more control over something they previously had little control over. Wow, the paranoid type might conclude that this whole thing was staged by the government to increase its power and control.

It sure would make it easier on the MegaGrow corps. like Monsanto (who seem to be real friendly with global governance, in case you didn't notice) if the government could shut down small-time growers without any recourse or due process...

Think Industrial Food Production is better than the truck farmer? Think again.