Sludge Watch ==> FDA Hearing Fails to Discover Cause of E.coli outbreak in spinach

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

We need enforceable laws to prevent the land application of toxic 
ammendmends - sewage sludge, sewage effluent, uncomposted manures on food 
lands.

We have got to stop pretending that sewage sludge and the intensive 
livestock manures (liquid lagooned manures) make good 'fertilizer'.  These 
are industrial wastes and need to be treated as what they really are...with 
the usual  liquid industrial waste regulations and laws.

And it means we need to find more sustainable and hygenic disposal methods 
for these wastes.

................................................


Posted on Tue, Mar. 20, 2007
FDA hearing fails to discover cause of E. coli outbreak in spinach
By Brandon Bailey

San Jose Mercury News

(MCT)

OAKLAND, Calif. - Despite an unprecedented investigation over the last six 
months, federal and state health officials said Tuesday that it is unlikely 
they will ever pinpoint the exact cause of bacterial contamination that 
caused a nationwide outbreak of illness from tainted spinach last year.

The disclosure, just weeks before a final report on the investigation is 
expected to be released, came at a hearing where representatives from 
consumer groups and a national trade association for the produce industry 
called on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to set mandatory rules to 
assure that fruit and vegetables are safe to eat.

FDA and state health officials, however, said they favor voluntary 
guidelines and industry self-policing, including a set of standards that 
California growers are expected to adopt next week. The government officials 
said they would not rule out mandatory regulation in the future.

Growing and packing practices need to improve said Dr. David Acheson, the 
chief medical officer for the FDA's food safety office. But he also warned 
that another outbreak of food-borne illness will likely occur.

"We're never going to get to the point of zero risk," he told reporters 
during a break from the day-long hearing, convened by his agency to get 
public input on ways to improve food safety. "Is this likely to happen 
again? Yes."

And not solving the mystery makes it harder for farmers, trying to prevent 
future outbreaks. Hank Giclas of the Western Growers Association said 
farmers would like to know how the contamination occurred so they can reduce 
the chance of it happening again.

The investigation by state and federal health officials led them to a single 
50-acre field in San Benito County where spinach tainted with the deadly E. 
coli O157:H7 bacteria was grown last summer.

Investigators said the bacteria on the tainted spinach, which killed at 
least three people and sickened 200 more nationwide, genetically matched 
bacteria they found in samples of cow manure in a nearby pasture, as well as 
water in a nearby stream and at least one wild pig in the area.

This was the first time investigators have been able trace an outbreak of 
foodborne illness to a single field, but they couldn't determine exactly how 
the bacteria came into contact with the spinach.

The spinach in last fall's outbreak was processed by Natural Selection Food 
in San Juan Bautista and sold under the Dole label in supermarkets 
nationwide. Officials have said they would not name the farm where the 
spinach was grown until their report is released. An attorney representing 
dozens of people who became ill last fall has said in court papers that the 
suspect spinach was grown by a company called Mission Organics.

Critics complained Tuesday that the government has not done enough.

"How many more deadly outbreaks must there be?" asked Elisa Odabashian. The 
West Coast director of Consumers Union said that the government has 
abdicated its responsibility by relying on the produce industry to police 
itself.

A spokesman for a major trade association also called on the FDA to impose 
mandatory rules for growers and packagers nationwide. James Gorny, a vice 
president for the United Fresh Produce Association, which represents large 
produce firms, praised the efforts undertaken so far by government and 
industry. But he said his group believes the only way to restore consumer 
confidence is for the federal government to set consistent standards and 
enforce them.

Acheson, however, echoed spokesmen for the Western Growers Association, who 
argue that devising regulations is a cumbersome process. Giclas argued that 
the industry can develop its own list of `best practices' and revise them 
quickly as scientific knowledge develops.

Acheson said the recent outbreaks related to tainted produce have focused 
government and industry on improving food safety, but he added it's 
important to have "100 percent compliance. As we've seen, you don't need a 
large area of land to produce enough produce to make lots of people sick."

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