Is it just me... Spinach scare!

[Roxy66]

I'm not sure, but the fear that is being projected into our households over the e-coli in Spinach---and telling everyone (stores, restaurants, etc.) to throw out their produce seems so over the top, considering the other pressing issues of our country losing it's soul (Torture ok?) Not saying that it's not important, but man tone it down a bit....Panic, panic, panic!----terra, terra, terra!

[bluerum]

1. terra in the spinich! terra in the spinich! run for your lives! nt

[hashibabba]

3. Well, since e coli can kill you and has killed at least one

person, I'd be happy to know it if I had spinach in my 'fridge.

[Roxy66]

8. Like I said... it's important, just dont freak everyone out

e-coli is everywhere...what do you think most stomach flu is (different strains)

[Hubert Flottz]

2. This is some series stuff!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2138694

[yellowcanine]

4. It is actually good advice if you don't know where the spinach came from.

Ecoli is nothing to fool around with. Excercising common sense regarding food safety and disregarding the terra wolf cryers are not mutually exclusive behaviors.

[IggleDoer]

5. What are you gonna do?

Buy duct tape?

[Subdivisions]

6. While you're kidding around, go and get your bag of Spinach and

put it down your disposal or throw it out.

Serious. Doesn't matter where you got it. If it is contaminated and you eat it, despite the warnings, it could KILL you.

[notadmblnd]

7. I know two people who have been hospitalized

in the last couple of weeks with "stomach flue" the both eat out a lot. Now I find myself wondering if it was the spinach in their salads that made them sick.

[Tesha]

13. Could be. Norwalk Virus is also endemic in our society.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwalk_virus_group

[napi21]

9. I think you always have some people who panic about damn near

anything! Heck,if you've ever been in the South when the weather man says "possible snow flurries" you'd know that!

As far as the spinich; last year, I believe it was lettuce or green onions, or some such item that was found to have some contaminate and was removed from all fast food burgers for a while.

I think it's important that suspect problemsbe announced to the public, mainly to protect those people who are already in fragile health, and could be seriously harmed or die fromsuch an exposure, but don't ever expect the constant panicers not to show upand be very vocal.

[tnlefty]

18. Bread, milk, peanut butter and canned soup!!!

LOL, these are the main staples upon threat of snow flurries.

[napi21]

23. You forgot one thing...toilet paper! I never understood THAT one!

I moved from the north east to the south 20 years ago, andI'm constantly amused bythis snow panic. I understand the milk & bread thing, but "toilet paper"????

[Tesha]

10. Umm, the advice I heard was "Cook it or throw it out"

That seems like a pretty reasonable course of action to me,
and "cooking it" is probably what we'll do with our bag of
spinach.

Tesha

[demnan]

11. I think you could wash it really well and cook it instead.

n/t

[Roxy66]

12. I thought it was interesting that it could grow into the roots...

out of the soil, where washing would do no good.

[Bridget Burke]

15. Definitely.

This is not a new problem. Don't assume that any greens (bagged or not) are safe. Always wash them!

Cooking is recommended--but not for lettuce...

[doc03]

14. We had a scare about salads at the Sheetz Stores

in the the Pittsburgh area a couple years ago and a local company that supplied some of their salads was only suspect and it put them into bankruptcy a couple hundred people lost their jobs, it turned out the e-coli came from scallions imported from Mexico.

[fasttense]

16. My husband was running a 102 temperature,

throwing up and had the runs. We thought it was just the flue. He is better now, but he lost a lot of weight. He loves spinach and we had it in a salad about five days ago. I've since thrown it all out. Funny, though I ate it, I didn't get sick at all.

[Roxy66]

17. West Nile is a Pandemic..notice it's out of the news....

I have West Nile...I live in Eastern Oregon (on the border of Idaho) and everyone you talk to seem to have the same symptoms. Mostly a horribly itchy rash that lasts for weeks. It's the headaches you need to worry about.

[mucifer]

19. yeah 20,000 people die each in the USA each year from the flu

The press likes to go nuts over certain stories so they dont have to deal with reality.

http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/163/2/181

[Avalux]

20. E. coli is nothing to sneeze at - recommendation is a good one.

It would be irresponsible to NOT report about E. coli infected spinach and those who are sick. Everyone should throw away their bags of spinach to keep others from becoming sick.

[ronnykmarshall]

21. Breaking: Popeye Responds

"Oh fucks it, I'm just gonna dancek".

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

22. I know who's behind this.

[TechBear_Seattle]

24. This one seems legitimate

It only takes one sick employee to contaminate an entire lot of bagged produce. And between a very tight labor market and the utter lack of healthcare for employees, it is no surprise that a worker -- maybe a picker or someone in the factory itself -- was handling foodstuffs when s/he should have been at home in bed, thus contaminating the spinach.

[KurtNYC]

25. Considering there are over 73,000 cases of e coli infection per year

which is 200 per day -- this warning seems vague and overblown. From the AP story it is hard to tell if they have tested a single bag of spinach for e coli. And they are not asking for people who are sick and suspect spinach to bring the spinach for testing.

In the past e coli outbreaks have been definitively linked to Jack in the Box hamburgers and Dole prepackaged salads but there is no similar source data for this warning.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Tainted-Spinach.html?_r=1&oref=slogin