Lettuce Liability
Programs to keep salads germfree raise wildlife and conservation concerns
By Janet Raloff
Little more than a year ago, supermarkets from coast to coast stripped fresh spinach from produce aisles as a food-poisoning outbreak swept the nation. From mid-August through September 2006, virulent bacterial infections sickened at least 204 spinach consumers. Five died and 30 others suffered acute kidney failure.
Among more than 3,500 genetically unique strains of Escherichia coli O157:H7, microbiologists ultimately linked all of those spinach poisonings to a single strain. Uncertainty over where that germ entered the salad-supply chain prompted the biggest food recall in history, with multimillion dollar losses. Eventually, federal and state government scientists traced the national outbreak to a single California farm.