An E. coli scare at fast food restaurants during the 1990s linked the bacteria with undercooked hamburger, but this summer, some consumers have learned the hard way that fresh vegetables can also be carriers.
Within the last two weeks, 175 people from 25 states, ranging from Oregon to Maine, have ingested a harmful strain of E. coli found in freshly bagged spinach from California.
The rash of illness has affected consumers both nationwide and in Eugene, and has altered the selection of produce available through University food services and local businesses. It also reflects an emerging food problem that may require consumers to think twice when buying fresh produce.
Federal officials advised consumers to “say no” to bagged spinach from Monterey, San Benito and Santa Clara counties in California on Sept. 14, telling them to throw away existing greens in their fridges. Consumers who aren’t sure where their spinach came from are advised to toss it.
E. coli dwells in animal and human digestive systems and can be transmitted through feces. Although many of the hundreds of forms of E. coli are harmless, one strain, O157:H7, can lead to hospitalization and even death.
The bacteria can be ground into hamburger or spread to vegetables, especially sprouts, lettuce and spinach, when crops are fertilized with fresh cow manure.
Washing raw vegetables may not eliminate bacteria, according to the Lane County Public Health Department.
Recent spinach-related warnings grew increasingly serious as new cases of E. coli symptoms – abdominal cramping, diarrhea, bloody stool, vomiting and muscle aches – sprouted throughout the nation. People in six Ore. counties, including Benton, Linn, Marion and Multnomah, have also been diagnosed, although no cases have been confirmed in Lane County.
Seventeen residents have taken the county health department’s state-mandated questionnaire after reporting symptoms synonymous with those of E. coli.
No UO students have reported symptoms, University Health Center Medical Director Ben Douglas said.
Yet University graduate Kimberly Snell said, although she isn’t sure that a recent illness was caused by E. coli, she will forever associate being sick with spinach after she ate it at a Portland wedding five days before national concern arose.
Snell awoke in the middle of the night with severe stomach cramping, diarrhea and bleeding. A nurse, unaware of the E. coli outbreak, instructed her to rush to the emergency room, attributing the bug to salmonella, another harmful bacteria.
“They started me on antibiotics, and it was later that evening that I heard the news,” Snell said in an e-mail. “All of the symptoms they listed on TV had applied to myself. It is still unclear whether it was due to E. coli.”
University food services threw away pounds of California spinach last week, and EMU Food Service Director John Costello said he will avoid ordering it until the U.S. Food and Drug Administration deems it
safe to eat.
“Whether it’s a week, a month or six months, our world will just have to live without spinach,” Costello said. “If in doubt, don’t use it. … E. coli is an elusive problem these days.” The Glenwood Restaurant, at 1340 Alder St., is one Eugene business that imports its spinach from a California distributor. It has since pulled spinach products from its menu, causing a spinach drought for customers.
Staff manager Scott Harrison said business has been “completely affected.””We did not want to contaminate other foods, so we just did not even bring it into the house,” he said. Harrison said that if the problem continues, the restaurant might have to increase its labor and switch to bunch spinach, which requires preparation before cooking. Although the national outbreak began almost two weeks ago, Glenwood customers continue to attempt to order the five popular spinach-based dishes on the restaurant’s menu, he said.
“You hear about E. coli in meat and eggs, but not vegetables,” he said. “A lot of
people don’t know. People are kind of scared for their health. Our job is to squelch that fear factor.”
Some business owners in Eugene say they aren’t similarly affected, however, because they strictly buy produce from local organic farmers, limiting the potential for E. coli growth. Both Laughing Planet Café and Sundance Natural Foods continue to offer spinach products.
“I honestly don’t think we have been affected at all, because we are not linked to California spinach,” Sundance Produce Manager Kristi Woder said.
Produce that has been certified organic by the federal government, which carries USDA labels, differs from non-organic foods because the fertilizers used to supply it with nutrients may hold fewer bacteria.
“Organic farmers are the only farmers not allowed to use fresh manure,” Oregon State University assistant professor of horticulture Alexandra Stone said. “Their manure has to be composted.”
Woder added that most of the small grocery stores’ customers know that Sundance only carries local spinach during this time of
the year.
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