Now, almost 100 hundred people have grown ill after eating E.coli-tainted spinach, with 14 of them becoming "gravely ill." The NY Times reports the company suspected as a possible source, Natural Selection Foods of San Juan Batista, voluntarily recalled its prepackaged spinach and salad bags, "as well as prepackaged spinach it processes for numerous other companies, including Dole." That's a lot of greens - you can see all the brands Natural Selections Foods provides spinach for on this FDA press release. When we checked Natural Selection Food's Earthbound brand (the one the prepackaged veggies come from) website, we saw they noted that spinach was removed from some mixed greens and that the baby spinach bagged salads was not available.
The FDA emphasizes that the "investigation is ongoing" and the Governor of Wisconsion, James Doyle, said, "Simply washing it is not enough to protect you" - throw it out. Wisconsin is where the E.coli strain was detected, after an elderly woman died; so far, 32 cases have been reported there. Other states where illnesses have been reported include New York, as well as California, Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming.
Newsday reports on how stores and restaurants are reacting to the spinach shortage: At D'Agostino, spinach was removed and refunds were available, while at Gristede's, spinach was available at the salad bar though the bags were not.
