FDA Issues Warning About Bagged Fresh Spinach

Consumers should heed the advice of the Food and Drug Administration and not eat bagged commercial spinach until the precise source of the outbreak is discovered and until public health authorities indicate it is safe to consume this product again.

Infection from E. coli O157:H7 can cause abdominal pain, bloody diarrhea, and in some cases, including in this outbreak, Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome, which causes kidney failure and death. By issuing this alert to the public earlier than in past outbreaks, the FDA has probably prevented even more people from getting sick or dying.

One person died and dozens of others were sickened in the eight-state outbreak, linked by Food and Drug Administration officials to bagged spinach.

The FDA warned people not to eat bagged spinach and said washing it wouldn't solve the problem because the bacteria is too tightly attached.

"If you wash it, it is not going to get rid of it," said Robert Brackett, director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Nutrition.

Officials believes the spinach may have been grown in California, and federal and state health officials were there trying to pinpoint the source of the contamination.

Eight states were reporting a total of 50 cases of E. coli, officials said Thursday.

The death occurred in Wisconsin, where 20 people were reported ill, 11 of them in Milwaukee. The outbreak has sickened others - eight of them seriously - in Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, New Mexico, Oregon and Utah. In California, state health officials said they were investigating a possible case there.

Anyone who has gotten sick after eating raw packaged spinach should contact a doctor, officials said.

Other bagged vegetables, including prepackaged salads, apparently are not affected. In general, however, washing all bagged vegetables is recommended. Thorough cooking kills the bacterium.