E. Coli Contaminated Spinach Traced

from WDIV Detroit TV 4

Federal heath officials have traced a nationwide E. coli outbreak to Natural Selection Foods, based in San Juan Bautista, Calif., which has agreed to recall its bagged spinach products. The outbreak, in which bagged fresh spinach is the suspected source, has been confirmed in 20 states. Bagged spinach -- the triple-washed, cello-packed kind sold by the hundreds of millions of pounds each year -- is the suspected source of the bacterial outbreak.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the states are: California, Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming. The only reported fatality in the outbreak has come from Wisconsin. The FDA warned people nationwide not to eat the spinach.

Washing won't get rid of the E. coli bacteria, although thorough cooking can kill it. Supermarkets across the country have been pulling spinach from shelves. Consumers are tossing out the leafy green. In all, the bug is known to have sickened roughly 100 people, ages 3 to 84, the majority of them women.