We’ve all been waiting for more information regarding the outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 caused by contaminated spinach grown and/or processed by Natural Selections Foods LLC of San Juan Bautista California. The information trickle out of the FDA and California authorities has provided precious little on which to make any sound conclusions.
Chief among the questions was whether the contamination was only among Natural Selection’s non-organic brands – as the company claimed early on – or included organic brands too. The FDA said the issue was still open and that they had not cleared any of Natural Selections’ brands, organic or conventional. Up until Tuesday, the only concrete information we had was that two bags of “Dole Baby Spinach†had tested positive for the presence of O157:H7 that matched the strain from the victims. One was found in New Mexico, one in Utah.
Now comes a lawsuit filed in federal court in Ohio directly implicating one of Natural Selections’ organic brands. The lawsuit, filed by Roger Drummond and Laura Snider, says three family members became seriously ill after eating “Earthbound Farms Organic Baby Spinach Salad.†The youngest child has permanent kidney damage and will require lifelong care. Importantly, the strain of E. coli has been positively matched to the strain found in other victims, according to the family’s lawyer.
This development raises a number of important questions.
First, because Natural Selections Foods runs two separate processing lines – one for its conventional products and one for organic – the fact that products from both processing lines have been implicated may indicate that the problem is primarily at the field or farm level.
Second, if the problem is improper manure fertilizer management or other failure to follow Good Agricultural Practices, was it in just one field, or several?
Third, was the non-organic “Dole baby spinach†that was found to be contaminated growing using organic practices or conventional? The answer isn’t immediately apparent. Fields must be managed organically for three full years before the products from the field can be marketed as organic. During that “transition periodâ€, the products must be sold as non-organic. Were the bags of contaminated “Dole baby spinach†transitional “organic†spinach?
We await answers and clarification as the investigation continues, but we urge the regulators to release as much information as soon as possible so that consumers can be assured that all key aspects of farming practices are been examined and explored.