SAN FRANCISCO-
Two bags of Dole baby spinach that tested positive for the E. coli strain that has sickened 175 people nationwide were packaged at the same plant on the same day, California health officials said Monday.
That information has helped investigators tracing the source of the tainted greens narrow their search at nine farms in three California counties, said Dr. Kevin Reilly, deputy director of prevention services for the California Department of Health Services.
The tainted bags, which were found in Utah over the weekend and in New Mexico last week, were processed at the San Juan Bautista plant of Natural Selection Foods LLC during the same shift on Aug. 15, according to Reilly.
Reilly said it was too soon to say whether any other brands besides Dole would turn out to have been contaminated. Inspectors are focusing exclusively on Natural Selection at this point, he added.
“We are looking very aggressively at what was produced on that date,” Reilly said. “Much of the feedback we got from patients right now was related to Dole packaging.”
Calls to Dole’s headquarters in Westlake Village were not immediately returned Monday.
Ninety-three people who were sickened by eating spinach were hospitalized, including a 77-year-old Wisconsin woman who died, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said.
More than two dozen suspected cases have yet to be confirmed, said Howard Backer, California’s acting public health officer, who added he does not expect to see many new E. coli cases reported.
Meanwhile, two companies in the Pacific Northwest voluntarily recalled some of their products over the weekend because they may contain spinach supplied by Natural Selection Foods.
Seattle-based Triple B Corp. recalled salad products distributed to retail stores and delis in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana that had “use by” dates of Aug. 22 through Sept. 20.
Pacific Coast Fruit Company, based in Portland, Ore., recalled salad and pizza that may have been made with spinach supplied by Natural Selections Foods. The products were distributed in Alaska, Oregon, Washington and Idaho.
The 25 states that have reported E. coli infections since the spinach-linked outbreak was identified last month are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
