The outbreak was traced to prepackaged
spinach—sold as conventional produce—grown on a farm in San Benito County, California. Investigators with the CDC initially speculated that the dangerous strain of bacteria,
E. coli O157:H7, originated from irrigation water contaminated with cattle feces or from grazing
deer. A follow-up report by the CDC and a joint report by the California Department of Health Services (CDHS) and the U.S. FDA concluded that the probable source of the outbreak was Paicines Ranch, an Angus cattle ranch that had leased land to spinach grower Mission Organics. The report found 26 samples of
E. coli "indistinguishable from the outbreak strain" in water and cattle manure on the San Benito County ranch, some within a mile from the tainted spinach fields. Although officials could not definitively say how the spinach became contaminated, both reports named the presence of wild pigs on the ranch and the proximity of surface waterways to irrigation wells as "potential environmental risk factors." Two companies in California voluntarily recalled spinach and spinach-containing products: Natural Selection Foods LLC, based in
San Juan Bautista, and River Ranch Fresh Foods. Natural Selection brands include Natural Selection Foods, Pride of San Juan,
Earthbound Farm, Bellissima,
Dole, Rave Spinach, Emeril, Sysco, O Organic, Fresh Point, River Ranch, Superior, Nature's Basket, Pro-Mark, Compliments,
Trader Joe's, Jansal Valley, Cheney Brothers,
D'Arrigo Brothers, Green Harvest, Mann, Mills Family Farm, Premium Fresh, Snoboy, The Farmer's Market,
Tanimura & Antle, President's Choice, Cross Valley, and Riverside Farms. Affected brands from River Ranch include
Hy-Vee, Farmer's Market, and Fresh and Easy. Later, a third company, RLB Food Distributors, issued multiple
East Coast states recalls of spinach-containing salad products for possible
E. coli contamination. Natural Selection Foods announced on September 18, 2006, that its organic produce had been cleared of contamination by an independent agency, but did not lift the recalls on any of its organic brands. On September 22, Earthbound Farm announced that the FDA and the CDHS confirmed that its organic spinach had not been contaminated with
E. coli.
Impact The outbreak consisted of 26 states and provinces, with at least 200 reported cases. At the time of the outbreak, there were over 400 produce-related outbreaks in North America since 1990. The areas reported to be affected are: •
Arizona (8 cases first outbreak, 0 second) •
California (2, 0) •
Colorado (1, 0) •
Connecticut (3, 0) •
Idaho (7, 0) •
Illinois (2, 0) •
Indiana (10, 0) •
Kentucky (8, 0) •
Maine (3, 0) •
Maryland(3, 0) •
Michigan (4, 0) •
Minnesota (2, 0) •
Nebraska (11, 0) •
New Mexico (554, 0) •
Nevada (2, 0) •
New York (11, 49) •
New Jersey (0, 44) •
Ohio (25, 0) •
Ontario (1, 0) •
Oregon (6, 0) •
Pennsylvania (89, 7) •
Tennessee (1, 0) •
Utah (19, 0) •
Virginia (2,0) •
Washington (3, 0) •
West Virginia(1, 0) •
Wisconsin (49, 0) •
Wyoming (2, 0)
Economic impact In California, where three-quarters of all domestically grown spinach are harvested, farmers could face up to $74 million in losses due to the
E. coli outbreak. In 2005, the spinach crop in California was valued at $258.3 million, and each acre lost amounts to a roughly $3,500 loss for the farmer.
Online help The
PulseNet system, developed by state and federal partners, led by CDC and coordinated by the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL), deteced clusters of infection in two states, Oregon and Wisconsin, which initiated investigations in each state. The first cluster was detected on Friday, September 8, in one state, and the second cluster emerged in the second state on Wednesday, September 13, by which time PulseNet had also identified potential associated cases in other states. The OutbreakNet, a group of state public health officers who investigate foodborne infection outbreaks, shared information with CDC that indicated that Oregon and Wisconsin were considering the same hypothesis: fresh spinach was the possible vehicle of infection. The group tracked and updated the increasing case count and exposure information. During a multistate call on Thursday, September 14, the group noted that the data strongly suggested fresh spinach was a likely source. Within 24 hours of the outbreak, the data indicated that the outbreak was probably ongoing. CDC made communication to the public a priority by developing press releases, coordinating with FDA on press documents, conducting interviews with major media, and sending out notices on September 14 to the public health community via the Health Alert Network (HAN) and the Epidemic Information Exchange (Epi-X). By the next morning, the news media warned the U.S. population not to eat bagged spinach, with remarkable coverage. == Timeline ==