Sludge Watch ==> More contamination of fresh fruit and vegatables now than a decade ago

[Maureen Reilly]

Eat spinach, despite bacteria scare: scientists
18.nov.06
National Post
Tom Blackwell

Fruit and vegetables, once thought unassailably healthy, have by some 
accounts become the primary source of food-borne illness in North America, 
although scientists still say their rich benefits outweigh the risks.
Experts point to a familiar culprit in the phenomenon: contaminated 
livestock manure that is spread on crop fields or infiltrates irrigation 
water. The growing popularity of chopped and packaged raw vegetables, and 
on-farm washing techniques that can do more harm than good also get blame.
And unlike meat, which is usually cooked to a point where microbes are 
killed, produce is often eaten raw.
Keith Warriner, a food scientist at the University of Guelph, was quoted as 
saying, "Over the last 10 years, there have been innumerable outbreaks. For 
instance, for tomatoes, there has been one incident every year. With 
lettuce, there have been around 21 outbreaks. It's been a consistent theme."
Comprehensive figures are hard to come by in Canada, but the Canadian Food 
Inspection Agency says there were five human outbreaks, each one sickening 
several people, linked to fresh fruit and vegetables in 2005-06, up from 
three the year before and one in 2003-04.
Rene Cardinal, head of the inspection agency's fresh fruit and vegetable 
program, was quoted as saying, "Definitely, there is a trend. There is more 
contamination of fresh fruit and vegetables than about 10 or 15 or 20 years 
ago."

The story says that before opening the border to American spinach again, Mr. 
Cardinal inspected three of the four California farms where the tainted 
vegetables were grown. The problem was obvious at two sites: cattle grazing 
close by to the fields of spinach (so why didn't auditors catch these 
obvious problems? -- dp)
The principles of safe farming -- especially keeping barriers between 
animals and plant crops and using clean water for irrigation -- are well 
known here and in the United States, and most farmers follow them 
voluntarily, but Cardinal said authorities should have the power to enforce 
such behaviour, adding, "You need some kind of policing system, like a cop 
on the road, to make sure that everybody is applying those principles.

Another factor in produce contamination is the trend toward selling bags of 
salad ingredients and other forms of pre-cut and packaged produce, something 
rarely seen a decade ago, he said.
The outside of a fruit or vegetable is like human skin, forming a natural 
barrier to infection. When it is cut, the pathogens have an open road into 
the plant, said Prof. Warriner. There is evidence now that some produce can 
absorb bacteria into their tissue, where the microbes can never be washed 
out, said Mansell Griffiths of the Canadian Institute for Food Safety at the 
University of Guelph.

Even on the surface of plants, pathogens will colonize, with E. coli growing 
particularly well on spinach roots and salmonella on tomato skin, said Prof. 
Warriner.
Farms and distributors of produce do wash fruit and vegetables, usually with 
a weak chlorine rinse. But studies suggest those washes are relatively 
ineffective at decontamination and can actually spread bacteria onto more of 
the produce, he said.

Prof. Warriner has done research with lettuce showing that a hydrogen 
peroxide solution combined with ultraviolet light is a much more effective 
washing alternative.
But none of this, experts caution, should deter consumers from eating fresh 
vegetables and fruit -- and taking advantage of the health benefits they 
offer.
"Even when there is a relatively large outbreak, we're still talking about 
hundreds of cases," said Prof. Griffiths.

"In terms of the total population of North America, it's a drop in the 
ocean. The risk exists but ... the risk is small."

(Sludgewatch Admin: How about you, Gentle Reader?  Are you eating raw bagged 
pre-washed spinach? )




Hershey acted correctly in dealing with problem
20.nov.06
The Ottawa Citizen
Keith Oswald of Acton, Ontario, writes regarding, The sweet taste of truth, 
Nov. 16, to say that The Citizen's editorial discussing the Hershey recall 
hits the mark for the most part but apparently it didn't completely grasp 
the situation Hershey found itself in.
By all reports it seems that Hershey took the appropriate decisive action in 
recalling product and involving the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and has 
moved to protect the public from this potential threat.
Doing the right thing is not at all cheap, and a consumer recall of the 25 
Hershey products and dumping 25 days of production output will cost the 
company millions of dollars.
The cause of this financial hit has apparently been traced to the ingredient 
soy lecithin.
Company spokeswoman Stephanie Moritz ("Hershey's identifies contaminated 
product," Nov. 17) said Hershey would be taking legal action against the 
supplier.
When we consider that both companies likely have supply agreements with each 
other worldwide, it should not be a surprise that Hershey cannot afford to 
have the ingredient or the vendor disclosed to the public.
Oswald says he doubts any of us would agree to pick up this legal bill with 
public funds merely to satisfy our curiosity.

Sludgewatch Admin:  The CFIA hasn't confirmed that the soy was the source of 
the contamination.  And disclosure of the contamination source has nothing 
to do with the issue of litigation.  The CFIA should tell the public the 
source of the contamination.


top

Farr hosts spinach lunch in Washington: Event aimed at boosting consumer 
confidence
16.nov.06
The KSBWChannel.com (CA)
http://www.theksbwchannel.com/news/10339653/detail.html
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, and U.S. Department of Agriculture 
Secretary Mike Johanns hosted a special "spinach fest" lunch in Washington, 
D.C. Thursday in hopes of rebuilding consumer confidence in spinach in time 
for Thanksgiving (oh, that would do it -- dp)
More than 300 people, including members of Congress, Capitol Hill staffers, 
and special guests attended the event.
Afterward, Farr spoke with fellow house members about new safety protocols 
put in place by the spinach industry and about what is being done to prevent 
future outbreaks.
Farr was quoted as saying, "Well, I'm proud to host today along with the 
mushroom industry, the spinach industry, the ag industry -- the largest 
spinach salad bar in the history of the Capitol."
Meantime, back in Salinas, growers were working to make sure spinach stays 
on store shelves.
Phone meetings continued with a group of grocers and distributors, including 
Safeway and Costco, who have threatened to pull spinach again if growers are 
not able to come up with new safety practices that meet their standards.
Industry experts estimate the spinach industry has lost at least $100 
million as a result of the E. coli outbreak.



After spinach outbreak, consumers worry about restaurant safety, study finds
19.nov.06
Nation's Restaurant News
http://www.nrn.com/story.cfm?ID=2656706323&SEC=Breaking%20News&CFID=12120506&CFTOKEN=26750258
ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- A survey conducted immediately after 199 people were 
sickened by E. coli-contaminated spinach, consumers view the restaurant 
industry's cleanliness levels as more of a health peril than the fat or 
calorie content of what it serves.
The poll of 2,357 U.S. adults by Harris Interactive here found that 96 
percent of Americans aged 18 or older were aware of that outbreak as it 
unfolded in late September and early October. And 83 percent connected it to 
prepackaged spinach sold in supermarkets.
Yet they were far more suspicious of restaurant fare's safety than they were 
of grocery items. Sixty-three percent of the respondents said they were 
extremely or very concerned about the cleanliness of restaurants, compared 
with 52 percent who said the same about foods purchased in stores. Only 44 
percent voiced worries about the healthfulness of the ingredients in the 
foods they eat.
Harris found that 39 percent of consumers had stopped buying fresh spinach 
from grocery stores after the e.coli outbreak, and 41 percent stopped 
purchasing fresh lettuce. News reports at the time noted that the 
contaminated spinach had been traced to an area in California that is also a 
major source of lettuce. The surveyors apparently did not ask the 
respondents if they had stopped ordering spinach in restaurants.
The evidence of concern about restaurant's sanitation levels comes to light 
as a number of areas are questioning the effectiveness of their food-safety 
enforcement efforts. Chicago and Philadelphia both held hearings last week 
on the extent of their resources for protecting the public from unsanitary 
restaurant conditions. Chicago alderman learned that their city has 46 
inspectors to check 15,500 restaurants and food stores, and Philadelphia 
lawmakers were informed that their health department had 32 field officers 
to monitor 15,000 eateries.