2006 North American E. coli outbreak in spinach

The outbreak cases spanned from August 30 to October 6, and its origin was traced back to a farm in San Benito County, California.

[citation needed] The Canadian Food Inspection Agency advised consumers not to eat fresh spinach from the U.S., including bagged, loose in bulk or in salad blends.

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.

[10][1][11] 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.

[citation needed] Soon after the reports were released, California's farm industry announced it would adopt "good agricultural practices" to reduce the risk of E. coli contamination for leafy green vegetables.

[7][13][14] 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.

Later, a third company, RLB Food Distributors, issued multiple East Coast states recalls of spinach-containing salad products for possible E. coli contamination.

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.

[21] 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).

[23] On September 18, Illinois and Nebraska reported their first cases of E. coli infection due to spinach, bringing the total number of affected states to 21.

[27] On September 20, the CDC announced that the genetic fingerprint, a PFGE pattern, of E. coli O157 isolated from an opened package of Dole baby spinach packed by Natural Selection in the refrigerator of an ill New Mexico resident matched that of the outbreak strain.

[31][32][33] On October 26, 2006, some of the largest grocery chains, including Vons, Albertsons, Ralphs, and others, sent a letter to the farmer's associations, giving them six weeks to come up with a plan to prevent problems like the E. coli outbreak from happening again.