: produce : Food Poison Journal

USDA-FDA joint statement on produce safety

Posted on February 19, 2010 by Drew Falkenstein

Yesterday, the USDA and FDA released a joint statement on their intent to coordinate efforts to achieve better produce safety. See Salinas Valley, Leafy Green Vegetables, and E. coli for a description and summary of the problem. The joint statement reads as follows:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration are working together to achieve the goals of enhancing the safety and quality of fresh produce in ways that take into account the wide diversity of farming operations. We are committed to leveraging the expertise of our partner agencies and working together to ensure that our current produce safety and quality activities are complementary and consistent. While USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is in the midst of evaluating a proposed marketing agreement for the leafy green industry, the FDA is currently developing a proposed produce safety regulation. It is our expectation that these products will take into account the diverse nature of farming operations and that any marketing agreement would conform to any regulations that may be promulgated by FDA.

The success of these efforts depends on the feedback and comments we receive from growers and other produce safety stakeholders. AMS will continue to review the comments that have been submitted to USDA on the proposed marketing agreement. To further inform its planned rulemaking, the FDA is announcing today the establishment of a docket to receive information about current practices and conditions for the production and packing of fresh produce and practical approaches to improving produce safety. The FDA will work with AMS to have the testimony from the AMS hearings placed in the FDA docket for consideration by the FDA. The FDA encourages all interested persons to submit information they believe will inform the development of safety standards for fresh produce at the farm and packing house, as well as strategies and cooperative efforts to ensure compliance with those standards.

Tags: E. coli O157:H7, Food Poisoning Information, Lettuce, leafy greens, produce, produce safety

2006 Spinach E. coli Outbreak Revisited

Posted on September 13, 2009 by Drew Falkenstein

The 2000 movie called “The Perfect Storm” loosely chronicled the destruction of an Atlantic nor’easter that formed due to the random convergence of several destructive weather patterns. Twelve people died in the storm, including six sword fishermen aboard the Andrea Gail (captained by George Clooney’s in the movie). Today is September 14, 2009, marking three years since the convergence of another set of tragic circumstances, ending in hundreds of millions of dollars in damages, many lives lost, and many more lives changed forever: the 2006 Spinach E. coli outbreak.

Though there were no rough-hewn sword fishermen dying in the Grand Banks, perhaps more than any other outbreak of foodborne disease that we have seen, the spinach outbreak in September 2006 really was the perfect storm. The vehicle, Dole baby spinach, was a nationally-distributed, high-volume product eaten raw by people in every age group, including the young and the old. Contamination on the product was widespread, as is apparent from the severity and number of illnesses caused. And the strains of shiga-toxin producing E. coli involved, again as judged by the severity and number of illnesses caused, were simply more virulent than the strains we typically see.

But just like George Clooney’s movie, the spinach outbreak is truly memorable because of the suffering it caused. Ultimately, the outbreak cost the leafy greens industry over $175 million, maybe more, ruining a brand name; and more importantly, over 200 people were sickened, 102 were hospitalized, and at least thirty-one people developed HUS, five of whom died. Among the five who passed away were Betty Howard, Ruby Trautz, and June Dunning. All three were beloved mothers and grandmothers, and all three died undeservedly shameful, protracted deaths.

The deaths of these three women have been described often enough, however. So it is thus in tribute to Betty, Ruby, and June, and their families, on this third anniversary of the spinach outbreak, that we remind everybody just briefly about these wonderful ladies’ lives.

Betty Howard was born on September 14, 1923 in Sharon Springs, Kansas. She graduated high school in Salina, Kansas in 1941. Like others of the GI Generation, during World War II Betty did her part by working in a gunpowder plant in Oklahoma. After the war, she moved to Yakima, Washington, where she met John W. Howard. The striking young couple married on February 26, 1947.

John and Betty Howard raised four sons: Kim, Paul, Brian, and Darryl. Kim, the Howard’s first son, died in 1998. Paul, Brian, and Darryl are independent, successful men with families of their own. And to a man, each reflects on his childhood, and his mother more specifically, as idyllic in both appearance and reality.

The Howard boys’ mother left an indelible impression on each from day one, most significantly the way in which she lived and conducted her life. Darryl Howard eulogized his mother on February 1, 2007. He stated:

As I thought back this morning, it reminded me of the movie Second Hand Lions.

Two uncles raise a son of a relative. They tell him of their unbelievable adventures. Adventures in the Foreign Legion, tales of saving a girl, and wittingly getting a reward of gold offered for their own heads from a Saudi Prince.

In the end after the two 90-year old uncles pass away by flying their bi-plane into a barn, the boy returns to the farm and this helicopter lands. There is the son of the Saudi Prince with his son. They had heard of the uncles’ passing. The Prince looks over at a large yacht in a small pond and comments: “I see they spent my father’s money well.” Hearing this, the Prince’s son exclaims “So the stories grandfather told of the men are true, they really lived.” To which the boy who the uncles raised, now a man, says: “Yeah, they really lived, boy how they lived.”

My mom and dad really lived.

June Dunning was born on June 20, 1920 in Catford, England. She met her future husband, Arthur Gordon Dunning, a US citizen born to British parents, some years later while working in London. Arthur was then working at Scotland Yard. June and Arthur married in Sussex, England on April 24, 1943.

Arthur thereafter joined the U.S. Army, and he and June spent the majority of the next 20 years living in and around Europe. Their army life resulted in frequent moves, and June held numerous jobs over the years at various Army Base stores. They were eventually transferred to Fort Ritchie, Maryland, where Arthur retired. June and Arthur moved to Hagerstown, Maryland in the mid seventies.

For the last seven years of her life, June lived in Hagerstown, Maryland with her daughter, Corinne Swartz, and her son-in-law, Warren Swartz. Corinne recalls her mother as “a proper British lady that loved her tea, meticulously cared for her flowers and plants and adored our Yorkshire Terrier ”Roxie” whom she walked almost every day until the day she became ill. Neighbors often commented on how they enjoyed watching her walk around the neighborhood with the Yorkie by her side."

June remained independent to the last. She enjoyed heading into town on her own. In fact, Corinne and Warren purchased their home at its location in part due to its proximity to a Hagerstown bus stop. This allowed June to pack a bag for the day, scurry to the bus stop, make a transfer in the downtown square and then ride a second bus to the Mall for a day of shopping, or for an evening of Bingo.
“She never complained about anything,” Corinne recalls, “unless it was raining. The rain always made her mad because she would probably not go out that day. She was an avid shopper. I’m sure the department stores at the Mall have felt the effects of the sudden lack of sales. Finding bargains was a favorite past-time of hers. She often came home after riding the bus from the mall with her arms full of the day’s ‘good buys’.”

Ruby LaFon Trautz was born in the back seat of a car on February 2, 1925 in Manzanar, California. She was the second of four girls born to working class parents, Maude and Paul LaFon. Typical of the era, Maude was a homemaker and Paul, Ruby’s much-beloved father, worked construction.

Ruby and her sisters lived their formative years in a home on Settle Avenue in San Jose, California. The girls sprouted from their humble origins to become cultured, ambitious young women. The personal history of each is remarkable; and Ruby’s, in particular, shows an early bent toward the vibrant and confident persona that she carried throughout her life.

Characteristically, Ruby was not enamored with many of the “social constraints” extant during her adolescent and early adult years. She was, and so remained until the day she died, determined to shape her own life. Thus, she was consistently employed from her adolescent years, through high school, and, after a respite of fifteen years to care for her two girls, consistently until retirement at age 65. Most of her early jobs were military in some fashion, or related to the war effort at least, and she quickly found her calling in the nursing field.

Ruby began training for her nursing career at Santa Clara County Hospital in 1943. She would remain there until 1946, when she transferred to a program at Queen of Angels Hospital in Los Angeles, where she worked in obstetrics and orthopedics. The picture below is of Ruby shortly after graduation from nursing school. Afterward, she returned to Santa Clara County Hospital, where she worked in surgery until commissioned as a 1st Lieutenant in the Air Force in 1950.

It was in her capacity as an Air Force Lieutenant that Ruby served as a flight nurse aboard planes flying wounded Korean War soldiers from base to base—a role that Ruby considered the single-most important of her distinguished medical career. By chance, or perhaps provenance, Ruby’s thoughts about the time she spent in that critical role are memorialized. Students from Conestoga School District in Murray, Nebraska recorded them in an interview several years ago about female war veterans:

Ruby’s job was to help the wounded [] soldiers get on the planes and to help medically while they were transported back to a hospital closest to their homes to continue their medical care or to die. The soldiers would come in on Navy planes to Travis AFB, CA and the nurses would fly on Navy or Air Force planes to get them closer to homes.

The nurses were very much in charge once the patients were on the plane. . . . Nurses essentially had power over the pilots because they could request that the pilots find an airfield to land at anytime if they felt a patient needed to be at a hospital or with a doctor. She requested a plane be taken down to Ft. Knox, KY.

Ruby would often sign in at 3 a.m. and take off at 7 a.m. Her days were typically 12-14 hours. They would land in 7-8 places a day. Sometimes nurses were left at the last stop and it might take 2-3 days to hitch a ride on another plane home. . . .

I asked Ruby what the injury types were. She said it was very sad, they were young kids. They usually had bad injuries like amputations, gun shot wounds, and schizophrenia caused by the war.

Many who knew Ruby Trautz would say that she remained vibrant until she was sickened in the spinach outbreak. Confident, independent, and informed are other adjectives not unfamiliar to Ruby’s description—some might even say feisty. To a person, however, no matter the adjective used, everybody who knew Ruby Trautz agrees that, even at age 81, she remained the dominant force in her own life. As Polly Costello, one of Ruby’s two daughters stated, “my mom was living her life, not waiting for death.”

Tags: E. coli, E. coli O157:H7, Food Poisoning Information, produce, spinach, spinach outbreak

Carrot Producer Sues Sheep Farmer Over E. coli Concerns

Posted on June 1, 2009 by David Babcock

Grimmway Enterprises, Inc., a carrot producer in Bakersfield, California is suing a neighboring sheep farmer afer the sheep entered Grimmway's property. The sheep grazed on Grimmway crops, but more importantly, they did what sheep do - they defecated. Out of resulting concern for possible E. coli O157:H7 contamination, Gimmway destroyed an alleged 75 acres of crops.

In a related story on, Michele Jay-Russell of UC Davis' Western Institute for Food Safety and Security said the destruction of the crops made sense. "It's a legitimate c oncern," she said. Sheep, and other ruminants, such as cattle and goats, are known to harbor E. coli O157:H7. An investigation of the massive 2006 E. coli O157:H7 outbreak in Dole spinach suggested that wildlife in the crop fields played in role in the outbreak.

Tags: E. coli, Food Poisoning Information, carrots, produce, sheep, spinach

Produce E. coli Problems of a Different Variety

Posted on May 28, 2009 by Drew Falkenstein

Most of the time when we're writing about, reading about, or representing people for illnesses suffered in an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak related to produce, we're looking at things retrospectively. An outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 happened, we know it was linked to lettuce, spinach, or some other type of fresh, raw produce, but we are sometimes left digging for answers as to how the E. coli got onto (or even into) the lettuce or spinach leaves.

For once, we may have a glimpse, albeit a narrow one, of how these lettuce and spinach E. coli outbreaks actually get started. The attached is an "incident alert" from the Food Safety and Defense organization. It involves a modern day Bo Peep who apparently forgot what fences mean (actually, it's a little unclear who owned the property). The sheepherders allowed their herd to invade a carrot growing field where the carrot behemoth Grimmway was actively growing carrots.

Sounds innocent enough, right? I mean, they're just sheep, and they just wanted to eat a few carrots. Probably just the tops of the carrots that nobody eats anyways.

Well, sheep are ruminant animals well-known to harbor E. coli O157:H7, and other pathogenic bacteria, in their gastrointestinal tracts. I know nothing about any "problems" (i.e. linked e. coli illnesses) . . . yet. Hey, just an aside here, but what's up with California lettuce? Anybody know anything that we don't?

Tags: Foodborne Illness Outbreaks, E. coli outbreak, Lettuce, produce, spinach

Continued Proliferation of Organic Farms in U.S.

Posted on May 5, 2009 by Denis Stearns

In this last Sunday's New York Times, there was a fascinating set of maps that showed the geographic location of organic farms across the United States. The article noted that organic vegetables now account fro five percent of all vegetables sales.

This increase is interesting. But what I find much more interesting is that the concentration of organic farms in the Northwest and Northwest, and in the states adjacent to the Great Lakes, indicates that, in these areas, there are large numbers of small organic farms that are selling produce directly to consumers. To me this represents a growing desire for face-to-face transactions, and the rejection of produce products from anonymous locales and sources. This is not necessarily a safety issue, but it is most certainly a trust issue. And one can hardly believe that the repeated outbreaks of foodborne illness linked to produce over the last several years has done much to destroy the trust relationship with the American public.

The other thing that is fascinating about these maps is how the geographic concentration of organic farms roughly correlates to household income in the United States. Look at this map from the U.S. Census Bureau.

So, for now at least, it does certainly seem that the market for organic produce is one restricted to higher-income households. This is probably both a good and bad thing (depending on your perspective and role in the marketplace). Higher prices definitely support the growth of organic farms in the absence of support from the government. (This is in huge contrast to the substantial--arguably, too substantial--support that Big Ag gets from the government.) But on the other hand, if large portions of the populace are priced out of the organic produce market it is hard to see how organic farming will be able to grow much more without creating downward price pressure because of potential over-supply. For the time being though, I think the proliferation of organic farming is a great thing.

Tags: Food Poisoning Information, consumer, distribution, farming, geographic, household, income, organic, outbreaks, produce, trust

Mandatory safety rules best for produce industry

Posted on March 15, 2007 by Food Poisoning Lawyer

produce The San Jose Mercury News reports that Californians shouldn't be surprised that the federal Food and Drug Administration is essentially abdicating its responsibility to help ensure the safety of fresh produce, most of which is grown in the Central Valley.

In fact, it's hard to decide which is the worst part about the new guidelines offered Monday by the FDA: That they took seven years to develop or that they are non-binding, meaning food processors can simply choose to ignore them.

Now it's up to the state to maintain consumer confidence in the safety of its leafy green vegetables, like lettuce and spinach. Quality greens are important for consumer health and are a vital part of the state's economy.

The state should complete its plans by summer to impose mandatory controls on growers. The food industry should work with the Legislature to guarantee that a set of enforceable standards is in place that will guarantee that every food handler in the business complies.

The need is obvious. E. coli outbreaks from contaminated produce have doubled over the past decade. And September's nationwide outbreak was traced back to prepackaged spinach grown at a farm in the Salinas Valley.

The deadly episode did tens of millions of dollars of damage to the $1.5 billion industry. The results of an investigation into the outbreak are expected within the next 10 days, and it should offer additional insights into what actions are necessary.

The debate in Sacramento is centered on how much regulation should be left to industry - which has a huge vested interest in stopping the outbreaks - and when the Legislature and the state Department of Food and Agriculture need to intervene.

State Sen. Dean Florez, D-Bakersfield, has introduced three bills that would require state certification and inspection of produce farms. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says he leans toward wanting the industry to police itself, as much as possible. State Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-San Luis Obispo and a Santa Maria strawberry farmer, is trying to help negotiate a compromise that will accomplish the safety goals with the least amount of government intervention. A GOP rarity in the Legislature, he was appointed by Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, to head the Senate Agriculture Committee. Some form of independent inspection is essential, and the industry has enough of an interest in certifying the safety of their products that it should be willing to help pay the costs.

Meat and poultry operations have mandatory sanitation standards that should help provide a model for produce regulations. The state should ensure that its produce farms and food processors are being regularly inspected to eliminate the possibility of contamination.

California should be aggressive about guaranteeing that its farms and food-processing facilities meet the highest standards for sanitation.

Tags: Food Poisoning Watch, food safety regulation, produce

Eat your vegetables -- at your own risk

Posted on December 18, 2006 by Food Poisoning Attorney

produce SouthCoastToday.com reports that vegetables are nearly as dangerous as under-cooked meat when it comes to transmitting deadly food illnesses like E. coli, salmonella and hepatitis, according to a study of federal outbreak records by Scripps Howard News Service.

Fresh raw vegetables like lettuce, spinach, tomatoes and green onions were responsible for the illness or deaths of nearly 19,000 people nationwide over a five-year period.

Beef, chicken, pork and their byproducts were responsible for nearly 22,600 deaths or illnesses, according to the study of 6,374 outbreaks reported from Jan. 1, 2000 through Dec. 31, 2004.

No other foodstuff came close to the threats posed by vegetables and meats, the study found. Seafood like raw oysters and tuna was a distant third, causing fewer than 3,000 deaths or illnesses.

"Given several E. coli outbreaks linked to produce in recent years, we believe there's a need for thorough review of the produce supply system in our country today," Taco Bell President Greg Creed said.

Tags: Food Poisoning Watch, food safety, produce

FDA Issues Advice to Consumers to Reduce Risk of Foodborne Illness from Fresh Produce

Posted on November 2, 2006 by Food Poisoning Lawyer

FDA As the FDA investigates an outbreak of illnesses that may be related to Salmonella typhimurium bacteria in produce, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is reminding consumers of steps they can take to keep their food safe.

Salmonella can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy persons often experience fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, infection can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses.

Based on information currently available from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the investigation shows a peak in cases of illness in September. This suggests that the outbreak is no longer ongoing. The agency believes that contaminated food products that caused the illnesses have at this point been consumed, destroyed or thrown out because they are perishable. Therefore, FDA does not believe a consumer warning about produce on store shelves is warranted at this time.

FDA is working closely with states and CDC to identify the most likely food item(s) that caused the current outbreak. If and when a food item is identified, FDA will investigate where the product came from and what may have gone wrong during its production, packing or distribution that could have led to contamination with Salmonella.

Tags: Food Poisoning Watch, food safety warning, produce, salmonella

Washing your Fruits and Vegetables???

Posted on November 1, 2006 by Food Poisoning Lawyer

A quick Q & A from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on the effectiveness of washing your fruits and vegetables to prevent food poisoning.

Tags: Food Poisoning Watch, food safety, fruits, produce, vegetables

Produce Safety

Posted on November 1, 2006 by Food Poisoning Lawyer

This is a Power Point (in pdf) about how the spinach E. coli outbreak is only part of a larger problem of safe produce.

Tags: Food Poisoning Watch, food safety, produce, spinach E. coli outbreak

Local grocers protect customers from food illnesses

Posted on November 1, 2006 by Food Poisoning Lawyer

produce WOODTV reports that n the cold room at Forest Hills Foods, workers prepare fruit trays, ever mindful of customer concerns over the recent outbreak of food-borne problems such as E. coli and salmonella.

"It's cold during the preparation process. And it's cold when it gets on our shelves. So the product never has a chance for any bacteria growth," said produce manager Chris Gould.

Everything the produce comes into contact with in the room is sterilized.

Tags: Food Poisoning Watch, food safety, produce

Recalls on California produce has experts questioning farming practices

Posted on October 11, 2006 by Food Poisoning Attorney

produce recalls Keith Warriner from the University of Guelph commenting on recent recalls and questioning where Canidian's food comes from:

Part of the problem is the fact that Canada gets as much as 80 per cent of its produce from California, where health officials have warned growers three times in the last three years about their growing practices.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued several warnings to California producers over the last three years urging them to improve safety standards, said Keith Warriner, a professor of food science at the University of Guelph.

"There's definitely some sort of issues with the quality of irrigation water in California and that's no doubt due to the pressures to get water," Warriner said.

Water contamination is sometimes a problem when it's used in both animal and vegetable production systems, he added.

"It's a recipe for disaster in a lot of ways."

Tags: Food Poisoning Watch, Canadian, food safety, produce, recalls

US: foodborne pathogens hard to remove from produce, research is ongoing

Posted on October 3, 2006 by Food Poisoning Attorney

produce Will you ever feel comfortable eating fresh spinach again? All raw agricultural products carry a minimal risk of contamination, said a University of Illinois scientist whose research focuses on keeping foodborne pathogens, including the strain of E. coli found recently on spinach, out of the food supply.

That won't keep Scott Martin, a U of I food science and human nutrition professor, from eating bagged greens or other produce although he can see why it gives consumers pause. "I definitely wouldn't eat spinach from the three California counties implicated in this latest outbreak of E. coli H0157:H7, but there have been no problems with spinach grown in other parts of the country," Martin said.

Martin said that food companies have recalled the particular products implicated in the outbreak, and that the contaminated spinach had a sell-by date of September 20, so none should remain on the shelves at this time. If his reassuring tone makes the scientist sound less than aggressive toward E. coli 0157:H7 and other foodborne pathogens, you're mistaken. Martin and fellow U of I professor Hao Feng are dedicated to discovering ways to keep these microorganisms out of the food supply.

Martin's research is focused on finding ways to eliminate the biofilms that attach to produce and cause illness. "Once the pathogenic organism gets on the product, no amount of washing will remove it. The microbes attach to the surface of produce in a sticky biofilm, and washing just isn't very effective," he said.

Martin said the California spinach outbreak appears to have been caused by contaminated cow manure used by organic producers. "A very low percentage of cattle are always infected by this strain of E. coli. If fresh manure from those cattle is used as fertilizer, there's an outbreak in the making." Growers should also be careful about the water they use on the plants. "If farmers irrigate with water from a lake close to a dairy farm, that can also be a potential source of infection," Martin said.

Another technique that has excellent potential in the fight against E. coli 0157:H7 is being developed in the lab of Martin's colleague Hao Feng. Feng is developing a process that uses ultrasound and low temperatures to kill pathogenic organisms in liquid products, such as cider and apple juice. A previous outbreak of E. coli 0157:H7 occurred in these products, Martin said.

"Before that outbreak, small producers could sell cider or apple juice without pasteurizing it. Now all growers are required to pasteurize these products," he added. The scientist said normal, wild-type strains of E. coli live in the human intestinal tract as a beneficial organism, aiding in digestion and absorption of nutrients.

"Only a few strains of E. coli are pathogenic, and E. coli 0157:H7 is a really virulent strain. In most cases, it causes bloody diarrhea and abdominal pain, and in a small percentage of victims, it colonizes the intestinal tract and produces a toxin that can cause kidney failure. It's certainly an unpleasant and potentially fatal illness," he said.

"But, if you consider the amount of produce that's grown in this country and the number of reported cases we see, your risk of contracting the illness is actually very small," he noted.

In the meantime, Martin continues to study the biofilms that pathogens use to adhere to produce, and Feng experiments with ultrasound treatments that are yielding encouraging results. The scientists believe their work will soon make the food supply safer.

Tags: Food Poisoning Watch, food safety, produce, spinach E. coli outbreak

Coming clean on washing vegetables: U of G food scientist, graduate student, have found an effective way to clean your produce

Posted on May 24, 2006 by Food Poisoning Lawyer

Thana Dharmarajah of The Guelph Mercury reports that scrubbing lettuce won't get rid of the pathogens hiding in the edges of the leaves or the pores of the vegetable, according to a University of Guelph food microbiologist.

Leafy vegetables such as spinach and cabbage, which tend to be eaten raw, have a higher risk of contamination, said Keith Warriner.

The vegetables can be exposed to contamination in the field through irrigation if the water source is contaminated with sewage, he said.

Bacteria can also be passed onto the lettuce when it's being harvested for bagged salads and kept in containers of water, which could be contaminated, Warriner said.

Simple washing of the vegetables can only remove 90 per cent of the pathogens, such as salmonella and E. coli, even when done with different sanitizers such as bleach, he said.

Warriner has found a more effective of cleaning the vegetables, which involves the use of hydrogen peroxide and exposure to ultraviolet light.

The same method has been used in the carton packaging industry.

For example, cartons of milk and orange juice are sprayed with hydrogen peroxide and exposed to ultraviolet light before the contents are poured inside.

The process produces ions which kill the bacteria that hide inside the crevices of the cartons.

The UV light converts the hydrogen peroxide into antimicrobial free radicals that penetrate into the packaging material to kill the bacteria, Warriner said.

The food scientist, along with graduate student Christina Hajdok, tested the method on produce by contaminating tomatoes, cauliflower, iceberg lettuce, romaine lettuce, Spanish onions and broccoli with salmonella.

After cleaning the vegetables using the hydrogen peroxide and ultraviolet light method, Warriner and Hajdok found they were able to remove 99.9 per cent of the salmonella.

Warriner said the free radicals are short-lived and do their job within seconds and are converted to water as the byproduct.

"(Consumers) will have a greater ease of mind that the produce they buy will have less contamination than when it is washed," Hajdok said.

Warriner said in October 2005, 23 people in the United States became sick from eating lettuce contaminated with E. coli 0157:H7.

Next to meat, fresh produce is the most common cause of food-borne illnesses, he said.

The researchers say they plan to continue testing the method on other items such as strawberries and raspberries.

This method of cleaning produce makes food safer to eat and also extends the shelf life of products because vegetables are often spoiled by bacteria, he said.

Tags: Food Poisoning Information, food safety, produce

FDA issues guidelines for fresh-cut produce

Posted on March 3, 2006 by Food Poisoning Lawyer

The Monterey County Herald reports that the Food and Drug Administration has issued its first set of safety guidelines for the way fresh-cut produce companies process bagged salad, apple slices and cut celery sticks.

The release of the guidelines follows a scathing November letter in which the FDA urged fresh-cut producers to do more to protect consumers from food-borne illness outbreaks. Eight outbreaks have been traced to Salinas Valley lettuce and spinach in the past decade, according to the FDA.

The recommendations were developed with the help of the produce industry, the same manufacturers the FDA regulates. Unlike an FDA "farm-to-table" action plan released in 2004, the 64-page draft document focuses strictly on activities in processing facilities, particularly those involving workers' hygiene.

The FDA is accepting written comments on the guidelines for the next 60 days.

Tags: Food Poisoning Watch, FDA, legislation, produce

Farm Food Safety Becoming a Growing Issue

Posted on February 2, 2006 by Food Poisoning Lawyer

The Associated Press reports that fruit and vegetable growers are tracking products and training workers to ensure their fresh green beans, tomatoes and peaches are safe to eat, driven by demands from the grocery chains they supply and shoppers at their markets.

Big retailers such as Wal-Mart are encouraging growers to embrace new technology that allows them to more closely track produce with bar codes and scanners. Growers are using bilingual videos and posters to train seasonal workers on proper hygiene. Some small farms are treating the water they use to scrub veggies.

Throughout the food chain there's more attention to food safety within the last five years because there's more worry about how an outbreak of illness could cost growers and wholesale buyers millions of dollars.

Two years ago a hepatitis outbreak traced to Mexican-grown green onions sickened 600 people and killed four who ate at a Chi-Chi's near Pittsburgh. The restaurant chain settled hundreds of lawsuits for more than $21 million. A few more are pending.

For most growers, a renewed emphasis on food safety means little change in the ways they pick, wash, pack and ship produce.

"You're inspected by your customers. That probably keeps you on your toes as much as anything," said John Wargowsky, executive director of Mid American Ag and Hort Services, whose organization works with Indiana and Ohio growers on food safety.

"We should take it as seriously as any restaurant does," he said.

The good news is that food safety awareness has increased at a time when people are eating more fresh fruits and vegetables. Consumption is up about 25 percent since 1970. An increasing percentage of foodborne illnesses, however, has been linked to fresh produce, according to federal statistics.

About 12 percent of foodborne illnesses in the 1990s were blamed on fresh produce, up from 4 percent in the 1980s, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated.

Eating produce contaminated by salmonella, E. coli or other bacteria can lead to stomach cramps, hospital stays and, in extreme cases, death.

Food safety experts say the reasons for the rise may include increased consumption and handling of produce, better testing and an aging population with weaker immune systems. The micro-organisms that cause illnesses also are becoming more resistant to chemicals designed to kill them.

Some retailers require independent auditors to check over growers and their safety habits.

Others are looking into using bar codes and radio frequency scanners to track where and when their produce was harvested all the way to store shelves.

The technology has the potential to allow retailers to quickly pull a bad shipment of fruit from stores soon after a problem is detected, said Matt Darr, a researcher at Ohio State University's Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering.

"They can find out where the product was shipped and pull it out before others can buy it," he said.

Researchers and those who work in food safety say most growers have properly handled produce for years but that there's always room for improvement, especially with more farmers selling directly to restaurants and consumers. The number of farmers' markets nationwide has more than doubled from 1994 through 2004, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

"Any time you're handling food it's always an issue," said Tony Bratsch, a fruit and vegetable specialist with Virginia Tech University's agriculture extension service. "It goes all the way from field to fork."

Bratsch also works with the Good Agricultural Practices, a six-year-old federally funded program that educates growers and packers how to handle food. He and food safety experts from North Carolina are developing a training program for growers who sell directly to shoppers.

David Schacht, who grows a variety of fruits and vegetables on his family's farm on the edge of Columbus and sells them at his market, said running a clean business is always on his mind because he's the last link between the food and his customers.

"The vast majority of it is common sense -- keep things cleaned and sanitized," he said. "It's a raw product that's grown in the dirt. It's not like a hospital environment."

Steps growers should take to reduce the risk of food-related illnesses include making sure employees are washing their hands and cleaning areas where the produce is packaged. Testing irrigation water for bacteria and making sure manure has had time to decompose before it's spread on fields also can prevent contamination.

No longer can farmers take the risk of hauling manure in the same trailer where they carry vegetables.

Luke LaBorde, an associate professor of food science at Penn State University, said he's more concerned about educating farmers who turn their grapes into jam and their milk into ice cream.

"People are doing more preparation and that means more handling and that increases the risk," he said "I would hope they're doing that properly and not using grandma's old recipe."

Tags: Food Poisoning Watch, farming, food safety, produce

Unwashed produce can make you sick

Posted on January 31, 2006 by Food Poisoning Lawyer

Jane Zhang of the Wall Street Journal reports that More Americans are eating their vegetables. But the healthy trend comes with a risk: Illnesses traced to fresh produce are on the rise.

Fruit and vegetables are now responsible for more large-scale outbreaks of food-borne illnesses than meat, poultry or eggs. Overall, produce accounts for 12 percent of food-borne illnesses and 6 percent of the outbreaks, up from 1 percent of the illnesses and 0.7 percent of outbreaks in the 1970s, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Several factors are responsible: the centralization of produce distribution, a rise in produce imports, as well as the growing popularity of prechopped fruit and vegetables. Both the government and the industry have identified five products that are particularly problematic: tomatoes, melons (especially cantaloupes), lettuce, sprouts and green onions.

Last month, Dole Food Co. recalled 250,000 bags of precut salads after Minnesota buyers were infected with E. coli bacteria, some severe enough to be hospitalized. Two years ago, green onions imported from Mexico caused what is believed to be the largest hepatitis A outbreak in U.S. history. Three people died and more than 500 were sickened.
In response, the federal government is stepping up efforts to get everyone along the produce chain to clean up their acts. Last month, the Food and Drug Administration issued a strongly worded letter -- its second in 20 months -- to the California leafy-greens industry, expressing concern over lettuce-related E. coli outbreaks and a lack of effort to combat the trend.

While it acknowledged that the source of lettuce outbreaks is rarely discovered, it added that "claims that 'we cannot take action until we know the cause' are unacceptable."

A group within the FDA is pushing to expand certain food-safety practices beyond food processors to cover those who harvest, store and distribute raw agricultural products. The produce industry, too, is developing detailed guidelines covering each step of the journey to market. Among the recommendations: delaying harvest or extra washing after heavy rains, which increase the likelihood of contamination from the soil.

Scientists often have trouble tracing how fresh fruit and vegetables become contaminated. Even washed vegetables can be subject to contamination. Last July, salmonella-tainted tomatoes sickened 561 people in 18 states and in Canada. While washing fresh tomatoes gets rid of bacteria on the skin, salmonella can enter the tissue through the stem or cracks in the skin, says Michael Doyle, director of Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia.
In the case of cantaloupes, bacteria from irrigation water, manure or wildlife, such as birds, can sit on the skin or enter through cracks and crevices in the rind, he says.

But scientists do know that fruit and vegetables with protective skins, such as melons and tomatoes, are more easily penetrated by bacteria when the skin is broken. Consumers and restaurants increasingly are purchasing melons, tomatoes and other produce that are pre-cut and packaged. Sales of fresh-cut produce reached $12.5 billion in 2004, almost four times their sales in 1994, says Roberta L. Cook, an agricultural economist at University of California at Davis.

Tags: Food Poisoning Watch, Dole, food poisoning outbreaks, food safety, produce

Veggies and fruit are top food poisoning culprits

Posted on January 31, 2006 by Food Poisoning Lawyer

Macleans reports that contrary to popular belief, vegetables and fruit -- not chicken and eggs -- are the top causes of large salmonella outbreaks, according to a U.S. study. And produce-related outbreaks tend to be larger than poultry-related outbreaks and sicken more people.

The analysis by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) in Washington, D.C., showed that contaminated tomatoes, sprouts and other produce made 28,315 Americans sick during 554 outbreaks from 1990 to 2003. On the other hand, chicken made 14,729 people sick in 476 outbreaks and eggs were responsible for 10,847 illnesses from 329 outbreaks.

From 1990 to 2001, poultry accounted for 121 salmonella outbreaks and produce accounted for 80. But in 2002/03, produce accounted for 31 salmonella outbreaks and poultry accounted for 29. Although produce outbreaks were responsible for the most illnesses, seafood was responsible for more outbreaks (899) than any other food, but only 9,312 illnesses.

Salmonella isn't the only pathogen that ends up on produce. In 2003, green onions in salsa from a Pennsylvania ChiChi's restaurant transmitted hepatitis A to 555 people, killing three. Also that year, E. coli on a bagged salad mix sickened more than 50 restaurant patrons in the San Diego area. Late last year in Kingston, Ont., residents were warned not to eat bean sprouts when they were suspected of causing food poisoning.

The CSPI's database only includes outbreaks in which both the food and the cause of the poisoning were identified, so its data represent only a fraction of the total burden of foodborne illnesses.

"Fresh fruits and vegetables are at the centre of a healthy diet, so it's critical that steps are taken to improve their safety," says CSPI food safety director Caroline Smith DeWaal in a statement.

Tags: Food Poisoning Watch, produce, samonella

Local growers handle their own produce safety

Posted on January 23, 2006 by Food Poisoning Lawyer

GI Smith of the Zanesville Times Recorder says when it came time to replace some of his farming equipment two years ago, local grower Mike Siegrist decided to buy something that would ensure his produce reflected his high standard of quality and the agriculture industry's growing concern with food safety.

The equipment included a washing mechanism that would help clean harvested produce before it was sold at Siegrist Farm Market, which he co-owns and manages.

"We wash all our produce on our grater/washer before it's sold," he said.

He farms a 35-acre fruit orchard north of Dresden. The market is open from mid-June through November.

Mark Mechling, the Muskingum County extension agent for the OSU Extension Office, said most local farmers sell their produce locally, not to large retail stores. Those large retail stores are encouraging their produce suppliers to invest in new technology that would enable farmers to track their supplies by using bar codes and scanners.

"Most of our produce grown here is sold in a fresh market," Mechling said. "It doesn't go through that packing and shipping process. There may be a couple of larger farms that do ship (their produce) but by and large most of our produce is sold fresh."

For larger produce suppliers, there has been increased scrutiny on food safety because of the risk of contaminated food-born illnesses, which could cost growers and wholesale buyers millions of dollars.

A hepatitis outbreak two years ago was traced to Mexican-grown green onions.

Four people who ate at a Chi-Chi's restaurant near Pittsburgh died and 600 others got sick. The restaurant chain settled hundreds of lawsuits - with more still to come - for more than $21 million.

But locally, most growers continue their same produce cleaning methods.

Wilma Prater, co-owner of Prater Farm Market on Raiders Road, buys most of her produce from suppliers in Columbus and Mount Hope.

"We don't really do anything to our produce," she said. "We get (the produce) in daily and there's such a fast turnover. We've rinsed off apples for customers who wanted (to eat them) right away."

The market operates from March through December.

"We clean our produce by hand," said Myron Paul, co-owner of Paul's Farm Market on South River Road. His family farms about 8 acres of land for vegetable crops plus additional land for fruit orchards. The farm also operates greenhouses.

The market, started by his father in 1948, opens in April and closes in November.

George McCoy, owner of the McCoy Farm in Coshocton County, operates a community supported agriculture business. Families buy into a planting season each year and, during the growing season, will receive weekly supplies of fresh fruits and vegetables grown naturally by McCoy and his family.

"We don't use chemicals or spray on our food," McCoy said.

His produce is picked when it's ripe and delivered to families shortly thereafter.

"You're inspected by your customers. That probably keeps you on your toes as much as anything," said John Wargowsky, executive director of Mid American Ag and Hort Services, whose organization works with Indiana and Ohio growers on food safety.

The increased scrutiny with food safety has coincided with an increase in fresh fruit and vegetable consumption. Consumption is up about 25 percent since 1970.

An increasing percentage of food-borne illnesses, however, has been linked to fresh produce, according to federal statistics.

About 12 percent of food-borne illnesses in the 1990s were blamed on fresh produce, up from 4 percent in the 1980s, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated.

Tags: Food Poisoning Watch, farming, food safety, produce

From field to fork, farm food safety a growing issue

Posted on January 23, 2006 by Food Poisoning Lawyer

John Seewer of PennLive.com reports that big retailers such as Wal-Mart are encouraging growers to embrace new technology that allows them to more closely track produce with bar codes and scanners. Growers are using bilingual videos and posters to train seasonal workers on proper hygiene. Some small farms are treating the water they use to scrub veggies.

Throughout the food chain there's more attention to food safety within the last five years because there's more worry about how an outbreak of illness could cost growers and wholesale buyers millions of dollars.

Two years ago a hepatitis outbreak traced to Mexican-grown green onions sickened 600 people and killed four who ate at a Chi-Chi's near Pittsburgh. The restaurant chain settled hundreds of lawsuits for more than $21 million. A few more are pending.

For most growers, a renewed emphasis on food safety means little change in the ways they pick, wash, pack and ship produce.

"You're inspected by your customers. That probably keeps you on your toes as much as anything," said John Wargowsky, executive director of Mid American Ag and Hort Services, whose organization works with Indiana and Ohio growers on food safety.

"We should take it as seriously as any restaurant does," he said.

The good news is that food safety awareness has increased at a time when people are eating more fresh fruits and vegetables. Consumption is up about 25 percent since 1970. An increasing percentage of foodborne illnesses, however, has been linked to fresh produce, according to federal statistics.

About 12 percent of foodborne illnesses in the 1990s were blamed on fresh produce, up from 4 percent in the 1980s, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated.

Eating produce contaminated by Salmonella, E. coli or other bacteria can lead to stomach cramps, hospital stays and, in extreme cases, death.