Sludge Watch ==> Gill Onions - Company Official says Listeria Contamination from Oxnard Plant

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

Now this is interesting. News reports out of Salinas and Oxnard point to the 
fact that the contaminated onions were grown in Imperial Valley.  And 
Imperial Valley is told that the contamination likely comes from the Oxnard 
processing plant.

But just how close are the Brawley grown onions to the open sewage sludge 
drying beds of the Brawley sewage treatment plant?   And with the Heber 
manure composting facility shut down, was raw manure spread on the Brawley 
onion fields?

And if the Oxnard facility is to blame...why didn't the company tell that 
story to the Oxnard press?
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Tons of onions recalled
CONTAMINATED WITH LISTERIA:
Crop was grown locally.

By DARREN SIMON
Staff Writer Imperial Valley Press, California

  More than 45,000 pounds of onions grown in Brawley have been recalled by 
the company that packages them after a 10ounce retail bag was found infected 
with bacteria.
  No illnesses have been reported from the bacteria,

listeria monocytogenes, state health officials said Wednesday.
  Although rare, the bacteria can cause ill-
ness and death in newborns, the eld­erly and those with weakened immune 
systems, U.S. Department of Agriculture officials say.

  On Wednesday, more than a week after the recall began, the investigation 
was ongoing as to whether the onions were infected in the Brawley fields 
where they were grown or at an Oxnard pro­cessing facility. The onions were 
processed and packaged by Oxnard-based Gills Onions, one of the largest 
onion pro­ducers in the nation, company offi­cials said.
  Gills Onions has a contract with Jack Bros. of Brawley, which grows 800 
acres of onions for the compa­ny.

  The recalled onions were pack­aged under the Trader Joe’s brand name and 
were distributed as diced onions to stores in Arizona, California, Nevada, 
New Mexico, Oregon and Washington state, offi­cials with Gills Onions of 
Oxnard said.
  “Although no illnesses have been reported and only one 10-ounce retail bag 
of diced onions tested positive, we want to be sure that all diced produce 
associated with the production lot are accounted for,” said company 
spokesman Nelia Alamo.

PRIMARY PROVIDER
  Jack Bros. principal Alex Jack said his company is the primary provider in 
the Imperial Valley of onions to Gills.
  But he said in this case there were two other growers who were contracted 
to supply small amounts, about 10 to 12 acres worth each.
  He declined

to name the two other farmers.
  “Chances are it came from one of my fields,” Jack said.
  But, Jack said, he was contacted by a Gills staff member who told him the 
contamination likely took place at Gills’ own processing facil­ity in Oxnard 
and not in local onion fields.
  Jack also said he has not been con­tacted by either state or federal 
offi­cials on the matter, which has led him to the conclusion the problem 
rests with the processing facility in Oxnard.
  Alamo said no determination has been made yet as to where the 
contamination would have occurred.
  She did say the onions in question have been linked to at least one 
spe­cific field, but she said she did not have information on which field.
  She said the onions were grown under “good practices” and based on “good 
agricultural technology.”

VOLUNTARY RECALL

  Gills itself voluntarily ordered the recall despite the fact the infected 
onions were found in only one randomly tested bag, Alamo said.
  That bag was tested by the Washington state Department of Agriculture, 
which had pulled the bag from a market as part of a random test process, 
officials with that agency said.
  Alamo said even though the case was isolated, she said Gills moved quickly 
to address the situation.
  “We, of course, take it very seri­ously and we did the recall,” she said.
  Locally, officials said they doubt the infection came from local fields.
  “If it did occur in the soil, it would be the first case I have heard of,” 
said county Agriculture Commissioner Stephen Birdsall.
  “It could have come from any­where in the supply process from the fields 
to the bagging,” he said.




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