Spinach Warning Expanded

SAN JUAN BAUTISTA, Calif. —  As the number of people sickened in a nationwide E. coli outbreak pushed past 100, federal officials Saturday expanded an earlier warning against eating bagged spinach to include all fresh spinach and any product containing the raw greens.

“What we need to do is get a clear message to consumers,” said Dr. David Acheson, chief medical officer of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s food safety branch. “The best thing ... is to simplify it.”

Although the illnesses appear to be linked to packaged fresh spinach, health officials are concerned that consumers might not know if spinach in their sandwiches and salads came from a bag. Acheson said the recommendation will hold “as long as it needs to to protect public health.”

The precaution, which does not apply to frozen greens, added to the woes of the nation’s fresh spinach industry, which is centered in California. Even before the expanded warning was issued, UC Davis agricultural economist Daniel Sumner estimated that the crisis could cost the state’s industry between $50 million and $100 million.

Growers were jolted by the FDA’s new warning. “That pretty much eliminates the spinach crop for the time being,” said Bob Perkins, executive director of the Monterey County Farm Bureau. Still, he said, “Better safe than sorry.”

Investigators continued their probe Saturday of a sprawling farming business in San Juan Bautista, Calif., that late last week was tentatively linked to some of the 102 cases reported in 19 states since Aug. 2. (Officials lowered the number of states affected by one Saturday, citing an error in including Tennessee in Friday’s count.) The virulent strain O157:H7 has killed one person, a 77-year-old woman in Wisconsin, and has left at least 16 with a serious condition that can cause kidney failure.

State health officials were at the headquarters of Natural Selection Foods, also known as Earthbound Farm, combing records and inspecting its 26,000-acre operation. The privately held firm, which describes itself as the largest producer of organic produce in North America, on Friday recalled all of its prepackaged fresh spinach, sold under 31 brand names including Dole Food Co., Pride of San Juan, Emeril and Trader Joe’s.

The company has previously said that its organic produce alone was available in nearly three-quarters of the nation’s supermarkets. Chains have hastened to pull the produce from shelves, including, as of late Saturday, fresh unpackaged spinach.

Disease investigators suspect Natural Selection in the outbreak because many of those sickened apparently ate its packaged spinach. However, no E. coli has been found in bags of the company’s spinach, and health officials have said it is possible that other growers or processors could be implicated.

The cause of the contamination by E. coli, which is present in cow manure, is a mystery, though theories include flooding, droppings from birds who have ingested the manure or workers with the bacteria on their hands or clothes. Although E. coli can be killed if produce is boiled, health officials erred on the safe side by recommending avoiding fresh spinach altogether. The virulent strain implicated in the current outbreak causes symptoms including bloody diarrhea and severe cramping.

Natural Selection officials, while going forward with the recall , defended their operations.

“Quality and food safety have been the centerpiece of our business, and we pride ourselves on the high standards we have set and the great care we take in the handling of all the product that comes through our facilities,” said Charles Sweat, chief operating officer of Natural Selection Foods.

On its website, the company says its farming techniques allow it to avoid the use of millions of pounds of synthetic fertilizer and toxic pesticides.

The company has been very involved in the leadership of California Certified Organic Farmers, the state’s leading organic farm group, and has organized food safety workshops at the group’s annual conventions, said Trevor Suslow, a research specialist at UC Davis, who has worked closely with the company since the mid-1990s on food safety issues and has visited the operation to sample crops.

“They’re pioneers,” he said. “They’re very progressive and innovative in all aspects of their business, and food safety is one of them.”

Others familiar with the company echoed the praise.

“They are very well-respected. They are a fine company and fine people. They’ve helped turn organic produce into big business,” said the farm bureau’s Perkins.

Natural Selection began as a backyard venture in 1984 by Andrew and Myra Goodman, University of California graduates from Manhattan, according to the company website. The couple started out with 2 1/2 acres of raspberries, greens and herbs.

“To integrate the farm-fresh health greens into their own diet, they began washing and bagging extra lettuce on Sunday nights and munching on it throughout the week,” the website says. “It stayed fresh and delicious and took so little time to prepare, and they sometimes joked about how they should start selling them to the public.”

Within two years, they became the first farmers in the nation to successfully market pre-washed salad for retail customers.

By selling their produce to local chefs, the couple built their business into California’s largest organic farm. But as the food business has rapidly consolidated, so has Natural Selection. In the 1990s, it partnered with several other companies and expanded its farm operations to include conventionally grown produce. It now has its own research and development farm and operations in four other states as well as Mexico, Canada, Chile and New Zealand.

In 2003, Natural Selection Foods controlled more than 60% of the organic bagged salad mix market, according to an article in the California Certified Organic Farmers magazine. The magazine said the company contracted with more than 200 growers.

Earlier this year, Natural Selection acquired Pride of San Juan, another large California producer.

Suslow said he knew of no instances in which a product grown, produced or marketed by Natural Selection or its partners has been associated with an outbreak of food-borne illnesses.

Lettuce from Pride of San Juan, before being acquired by Natural Selection, was considered possibly linked to a hepatitis A outbreak at a movie set in the Los Angeles area last year. But that link was never confirmed by state health officials.

In response to the current outbreak, Sumner, the agricultural economist at UC Davis, said spinach prices would plummet. As orders are canceled, growers and processors will have to destroy harvested produce and plow under crops in the ground, he said, adding that farmworkers, truckers, restaurants and grocery stores also will take a hit.

But Sumner said he didn’t think the broader recall would substantially increase the harm because many grocery stores and restaurants were already pitching all their spinach, packaged or not, and farmers were probably abandoning their crops.

Farmers contacted Saturday -- including those not associated with Natural Selection -- were downcast.

“A lot of money goes into a single acre, thousands of dollars including the seed, and all that money is lost,” said Dale Huss of Salinas, who is vice president for production at Ocean Mist, a mid-size produce grower in Castroville. “We’re talking $3,500 an acre to grow it -- and everything is lost.”

He and other farmers, however, expressed condolences to those harmed in the outbreak.

In Wisconsin, the family of Marion Graff, 77, struggled to make sense of their loss. Graff died Sept. 7 after falling ill on a bus trip.

“My mother took very good -- exceptional -- care of her health,” said Leah Duckworth of Oakland, crying. “She was a terrific friend to many people, and she was a very well-loved person.”

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Lin and Iritani reported from Los Angeles and Schoch from San Juan Bautista. Times staff writer Bettina Boxall contributed to this report.