Sludge Watch ==> Why Congressman Farr isn't eating Salinas Spinach

[Maureen Reilly]

Congressman's can't find spinach to celebrate its safety


Associated Press

SALINAS, Calif. - A congressman who tried to stage a public spinach-eating news conference to demonstrate that the leafy greens are safe following a nationwide E. coli outbreak scrapped his plan after he couldn't find any in local grocery stores.

Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, used the experience to try to persuade consumers it is safe again to eat spinach from the Salinas Valley, which federal officials targeted in their search for the contaminated spinach that sickened 192 people in 26 states.

"The good news is that spinach is able to be sold in the markets," Farr said. "The bad news is the markets aren't selling it. One of the efforts that we talked about is how do we regain consumer confidence."

On Friday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration lifted its 2-week-old consumer warning on most fresh spinach. But spinach and spinach-containing products that were recalled by San Juan Bautista-based Natural Selection Foods LLC and four companies it supplied remained subject to the FDA alert Tuesday.

Farr made his remarks in front of an empty bowl he had hoped to fill with spinach. He intended to eat some and feed it to reporters, but said his attempts to buy spinach at local Nob Hill Foods and Albertsons grocery stores were unsuccessful. Both stores had signs that said they weren't selling spinach, according to a Farr aide.

Dave Heylen, a spokesman for the California Grocers Association, said some stores have started restocking their spinach bins while others haven't, either because they haven't been able to get hold of any or are waiting to see if shoppers are interested.

"If people aren't clamoring for it, the stores might be saying, 'Let's wait this out.' Or others might be saying, 'Let's get this on the shelves and it will move,'" Heylen said.

Kevin Reilly, deputy director of the prevention services branch of the California health department, said state inspectors are still looking at nine farms in three counties that supplied Natural Selection Foods. They took E. coli samples from two cattle ranches that adjoin some of the spinach fields that supplied Natural Selection Foods.

Tests to determine whether the contaminated cow dung samples carried the same bacteria strain found in people sickened during the recent outbreak have not been completed, Reilly said. Because E. coli is found in animal and human feces, investigators have been looking at the proximity of livestock to fields and water sources to find out how the spinach got tainted.

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Associated Press Writer Lisa Leff contributed to this story.

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 Sludgewatch Admin:



Why I have changed how I shop for greens

 

 

I like salad.  But I came late to the pre-washed bagged lettuce mix habit.

In fact, I bought my first and only clamshell of  washed mixed organic spring greens a few weeks ago.

 

I won't buy another.  Not conventional and not organic.  

 

I will certainly not buy bagged greens from Salinas Valley, California.   The repeated outbreaks of E. coli 0157 in bagged lettuce and spinach from this part of the state does not provide any comfort that the agricultural practices in that part of the state are sound. The information that sewage treatment plant effluent from the Monterey sewage plant is provided for spray and ditch irrigation of produce is alarming.  The fact that the USDA Organic accreditation standards have been stretched to allow sewage effluent to be used on 'certified organic' crops is the last straw.

 

It would seem that the overpumping of groundwater has caused sea water intrusion six miles in from the coast into the Salinas Valley. The saline groundwater can't be used for irrigating crops.  So the Monterey sewage treatment plant provides its tertiary treated effluent (pretty name 'reclaimed water') to water the crops.  The sewage plant officials say that is safe.

 

I don't buy it.  Literally.

 

You see, for every person who is a reported case of E.coli 0157H7, there are at least ten more people who got sick and didn't report it or didn't know it.  But there is evidence that even people who don't know they suffered an Ecoli 0157:H7 infection may be suffering from loss of renal function.  Their kidneys may be shutting down.. There are no symptoms until your renal function is gone. And once you lose renal function, you can't get it back. 

 

We are seeing the downside of agricultural intensification.Not just concentrated cattle  feeding operations can cause problems with disease.  Concentrated spinach operations are apparently a problem too.  It means when you get into trouble, you get into trouble in a big way.



 



So I'll buy raw greens grown locally.  I will avoid prewashed bagged greens.  And I'll support the US Senator Dean Florez bill to stop the use of sewage treatment plant effluent (reclaimed water) on produce, and demand that Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and other organic providers never ever allow sewage effluent to irrigate their certified organic produce.  Not in Canada - not in the USA. Not ever.


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