Washington – Two University of Colorado students may be among nearly 100 people nationwide sickened in an E. coli outbreak that could have its beginnings with a California natural-foods company.
In a statement released late Friday, the university said a male student who lives off campus became ill last weekend after eating bagged spinach.
The student, who was not identified, is recovering at home. A second student, who also lives off campus, is also experiencing symptoms, said Bob Cranny, director of the Wardenburg Health Center on the Boulder campus.
Lab tests are being conducted to determine if the students’ illnesses are part of the nationwide outbreak, which has killed one person.
On Friday, the university’s dining halls joined supermarkets across the country in pulling spinach from shelves as consumers tossed out the leafy green.
Food and Drug Administration officials said they had received reports of illness in 19 states.
The outbreak was traced to Natural Selection Foods, based in San Juan Bautista, Calif., and the company has voluntarily recalled products containing spinach.
FDA officials stressed that the bacteria had not been isolated in products sold by Natural Selection Foods but that the link was established by patient accounts of what they had eaten before becoming ill. Illness reports are still being investigated.
“It is possible that the recall and the information will extend beyond Natural Selection Foods and involve other brands and other companies, at other dates,” said Dr. David Acheson, the chief medical officer with the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.
Natural Selection Foods LLC said in a statement that it was cooperating with federal and state health officials to identify the source of the contamination and had stopped shipping all fresh-spinach products.
The FDA warned people nationwide not to eat the spinach. Washing won’t get rid of the tenacious bug, though thorough cooking can kill it.
Wisconsin accounted for 29 illnesses, about one-third of the cases, including the lone death. Other states reporting cases were California, Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The bug has sickened at least 94 people across the nation, the CDC said. The agency added that 29 people have been hospitalized, 14 of them with kidney failure.
Each year, consumers buy hundreds of millions of pounds of bagged spinach.
The strain of E. coli involved in the current outbreak, O157:H7, causes an estimated 73,000 cases of infection, including 61 deaths, each year in the U.S., according to the CDC.
If you or someone you know has experienced an illness that may be related to tainted spinach, e-mail our newsroom.
Brands on recall list
Natural Selection Foods has recalled all packages of its fresh spinach and any salad with spinach in a blend because they are possibly contaminated with E. coli. The affected packages have “Best if Used by Dates” of Aug. 17 through Oct. 1. Consumers with questions can contact the company at 800-690-3200. The recalled brands are: Bellissima, Cheney Brothers, Coastline Compliments, Cross Valley, D’Arrigo Brothers, Dole, Earthbound Farm, Emeril, Fresh Point, Green Harvest, Jansal Valley, Mann Mills Family Farm, Natural Selection Foods, Nature’s Basket, O Organic, Premium Fresh, President’s Choice, Pride of San Juan,Pro-Mark, Rave Spinach, Ready Pac, River Ranch, Riverside Farms, Snoboy, Superior, Sysco, Tanimura & Antle, The Farmer’s Market and Trader Joe’s.
