Safeway, the second-largest grocer in the state, said Wednesday that it plans to start selling locally grown fresh spinach again as early as this weekend.
“We’re working with local growers to get spinach back into the stores as quickly as we can,” said Jeff Stroh, Safeway Denver Division spokesman.
Fresh and bagged spinach was pulled from grocery-store shelves across the country this month because of a deadly E. coli outbreak.
To date, the outbreak has sickened at least 183 people and killed one.
The Food and Drug Administration determined that the contaminated spinach was grown in three California counties. It now stresses that spinach grown elsewhere is safe to eat.
Safeway’s news followed an announcement Wednesday by the Colorado Department of Agriculture that it has expanded its crop-certification program to provide Certification of Origin for Colorado spinach growers.
“We’re hoping this helps get Colorado spinach back on shelves quickly,” spokeswoman Christi Lightcap said.
The spinach-certification program went into effect immediately. It will take one to two days for interested farms to obtain certification.
About 30 farmers in Colorado sell $3.7 million worth of spinach annually, according to the department.
Lightcap said those farmers most likely lost more than $1 million worth of sales in the past two weeks, which are considered peak shipping times locally.
Safeway has 122 stores in Colorado.
King Soopers, the state’s market leader, did not return calls for comment Wednesday.
Albertsons, with 42 Colorado grocery stores, declined to say when it would start restocking fresh spinach.
Colorado spinach growers said they have been significantly affected by the ban.
At Grant Family Farm in Wellington, for example, organic spinach accounts for about 40 percent of the summer harvest.
“Having people afraid to eat our product has really hurt us,” said spokeswoman Val Manning.
“I’m pleased that Colorado came out to say that our product is safe. That will help us in talking to our out-of-state vendors,” Manning said.
The Washington Post reported Wednesday that Giant Food stores in Maryland, Virginia, Delaware and the District of Columbia will resume sales of bagged spinach grown in Colorado and Canada.
Staff writer Julie Dunn can be reached at 303-954-1592 or jdunn@denverpost.com.
