comfort level with spinach

[dakinnu]

Hi all,

I've been following the spinach/E. Coli outbreak pretty closely because I too am one of the "depressed spinach eaters!"

Since the outbreak is determined to have originated in the Salinas Valley in California, I was wondering when we can purchase spinach grown from other parts of the country?

That said, would you feel comfortable buying fresh spinach now? What would you like to hear FDA say about the safety of any spinach that should happen to show up in your grocery store's produce section?

For me, I think I would want it labeled that this product did NOT come from the Salinas Valley!

Hope this gets straightened out soon.

Take care!
Doria

 

[MSJ]

I'm bummed, but I'm just going to wait a while. The number of cases keeps rising. When things totally calm down, we'll probably buy spinach again.

I'm probably being overly cautious.

Maggie

 

[dakinnu]

I think what I am going to do with spinach is buy it in bunches and not in bags, when it becomes available again AND when I know it does not come from the Salinas Valley!

I'm not sure I will ever buy bagged greens anymore...

Ha - it's me who is being overly cautious!

Doria

 

[maddiesmum]

I am so not worried aabout this. I'm the sort of person who never paid any lip service to the attempts to scare pregnant women with threats of illness from soft cheeses, etc. I would eat whatever salad I could get my hands on on the supermarket shelves. I don't follow food scares, because for the most part, that's what they are: food scares that affect a very small percentage of the population. Most food scares get blown up out of all proportion. Life is too short to get so worked up. So, if I see spinach salads back on the shelves i am buying. I am so sick of romaine and tasteless iceberg. Give me back my mixed greens asap, I don't care where they come from.

Clare

 

[alsrnbsn]

I think the safest place to get your greens, whether spinach or otherwise is from local farmer's markets, or local vendors. I actually go in cycles in my eating and now I am in my "off" cycle for salad, so this really isn't even an issue for me right now.

 

[fit44]

It is my understanding that e-coli is not born in bags, it is from human or animal feces. It could have come from the irrigation, fertilization, or the hands of the people harvesting the crop.
So I do not think it limited to just spinach or bagged veggies.

 

[mspina]

I'm with you Clare! When that spinach comes back into the stores, I'll be the first in line to buy!

And this has nothing to do with bagged vs. unbagged - that's why it's all pulled.

If my local farm has spinach, I'd buy it in a second. This thread actually made me realize that they very well MAY have it, and I should go to check it out!

m.

 

[sunnyside]

I'll probably only buy un-bagged spinach when it does comes back, at least for awhile . I'll also be obsessed with washing it really, really good. I'm kind of leary of all bagged produce right now. I heard on the news last night that there might be an Organic Milk that has E. Coli. YIKES! It could be in anything!

 

[acatalina]

I am very comfortable with not eating it at all.
I don't like spinach in any form so this is not bothering me onew bit.
Anne
http://www.picturetrail.com/acatalina

 

[teddy16410]

I ditto Clare's sentiments EXACTLY.... If I stopped eating and drinking everything that had a scare attached to it quite frankly I'd only be allowed nasty processed foods! Isnt that a kicker.... first the waters bad then nothing but organic fruits (not in my budget at 15 a week!) cant eat spinach now.... Ok lets all go out and buy the ding-dongs.... no scare on those yet!
Buy- Wash- Eat! Thats what I'm doing

 

[MSJ]

I'm not trying to be snippy, but what other healthy foods have a scare attached to them right now? All I've heard about lately is the spinach. The last ones I heard of were an unpasteurized milk e coli outbreak in Washington and the whole mad cow beef thing a couple of years ago (neither of which affected me much since I don't drink unpasteurized milk or eat much beef). What's going on that I'm not hearing about?

I may be overreacting to the spinach thing, but I'm not reaching for the ding-dongs either, at least not yet, anyway.

Maggie

 

[2121]

I am not buying it either. This for me is big because I usually only buy spinach rather than other lettuce because it seems to last so much longer. I do not know when I will rebuy. Melissa

 

[mspina]

My local farm DID in fact have it, and I happily bought it! Woo Hoo!

m.

 

[catwoman]

Here's what I say to the spinach debacle:

1) Don't eat apples, because apples have been known to be contaminated with e.coli and salmonella on rare occasions.
2) Don't drink apple cider homemade from the orchard for the same reason as above.
3) Don't eat strawberries, because someone once got sick with Hepatitis after eating contaminated strawberries.
4) Don't eat fried eggs that aren't cooked through the yolk, because they can be contaminated with e.coli and salmonella.
5) Same with scrambled eggs that aren't cooked all the way through.
6) Don't eat cookie dough because raw eggs are in cookie dough and can carry salmonella and e.coli
7) Don't work in the garden because small, microscopic parasites live in the dirt and can burrow into your skin and lay eggs that develop into small worms in the body (yes, this is true).
8) Don't eat raspberries, blueberries, or blackberries due to possible e.coli or salmonella food poisoning.
9) Don't eat bagged salad mix because an e.coli outbreak occurred in bagged salads a couple years ago.
10) Don't let a mosquito bite you because you could contract West Nile virus
..and on and on...

So....as you can see, if we all stopped eating and/or doing things that could make us sick, we wouldn't have much left to eat or do.

Make sure you always wash your vegetables and fruits with water (some can be washed with mild soap - all the better) before eating them. Wash your hands and counters after handling raw meat and/or eggs, and disinfect your counters. Don't let other foods come into contact with raw meat and/or eggs. And I don't care if the bag says it has been washed, you rinse that bagged salad or spinach thoroughly, anyway!

I actually ate spinach the week the e.coli outbreak occurred (and I live in one of first-affected states) before I'd heard about it...and I didn't get sick. I'm fine. I can't let it worry me, because if I did, I'd have to let EVERYTHING worry me, and then I'd go crazy! :7

 

[teddy16410]

 

[fit44]

Mspina,
In a Napolean Dynamite voice...."LUCKY!"

 

[mspina]

LOL! I know, I almost didn't believe my eyes! They had a HUGE sign above it saying it was locally grown - kind of funny.

m.

 

[robyn6002]

Same at whole foods - there was a big sign MA grown.

 

[Michele S]

Well said, Catwoman!

My father is a spinach grower in NJ, and my advice to everyone is to wash your vegetables yourself, regardless of whether they've already been washed or not. There are so many things that come into contact with every piece of produce - bird droppings, mammal droppings, human droppings (not to be gross) - that to eat anything without a thorough washing could be dangerous to your health!

 

[delfin]

I'm starting to look into hydroponically grown veggies. Saw one company on the net, Sunset, that looks appealing, and am researching more. Was in the grocery store today, and I couldn't bring myself to buy some Dole lettuce from CA. I got some cabbage instead. I'm starting to think more and more about WTH could be in that soil out there.