Mom was wrong - don't eat your spinach

A potentially deadly bacterium is spreading throughout the country, and spinach is the culprit.

The recent discovery of E. coli in bagged spinach has prompted restaurants and supermarkets around campus to pull the vegetable from their stores.

Warning signs have been put up in Houston Market and spinach - cooked or raw - has been removed from all campus dining locations, according to employees at 1920 Commons.

While the absence of spinach may not be a big loss to the typical Penn student, the scare has left some campus restaurants suffering major consequences

"We usually serve about 100 to 120 salads a day, and all of our spring mixes contain spinach," Gia Pronto manager Carlos Gonzalez-Ferrin said. "The warning was definitely quite alarming."

Due to federal warnings, Gia Pronto - along with many other campus eateries -has disposed of all salads containing spinach. "A lot of people will be asking why we don't have our spring mixes, and we could lose a lot of customers," Gonzalez-Ferrin said.

The Food and Drug Administration issued a nationwide consumer alert last Thursday. Since then, major food chains across the nation have removed spinach from their shelves. So far, there have been 102 confirmed cases of E. coli in 19 states, and one has died. In Pennsylvania, three people have been diagnosed with E. coli due to contaminated spinach.

"For three days, we've pulled all spinach from the store and have canceled what we've ordered," said John Barbagallo, produce manager at the Fresh Grocer. The company that sold the spinach is offering to refund the products, according to Barbagallo.

Salad Works has stopped serving its spring mix salads, according to manager Abdul Majid.

"We were notified by our home office and immediately removed all spinach," he said. "We don't want to harm our customers."

E. coli is a type of bacteria causes diarrhea and "can lead to serious kidney damage and even death," according to a warning statement issued by the FDA.

The E. coli outbreak has been linked to Natural Selection Foods of San Bautista, Calif. The outbreak may not be isolated to that company, the FDA warned, and E. coli may be present in other brands of spinach.

"A lot of people don't think it comes from around here, but they should avoid eating it anyway, just out of precaution," said Michael Osborne, a produce clerk at the Fresh Grocer.

Health officials have advised consumers to dispose of the vegetable, instead of washing or cooking it.

Gonzalez-Ferrin, as well as other workers in the food industry, are awaiting further notice from the FDA.

"I hope that they will find the source and that this will go away," Gonzalez-Ferrin said.

Barbagallo, however, predicts that this problem could last for a month or longer. E. coli grows in cow intestines, and some have speculated the outbreak likely started through spinach being fertilized with contaminated manure.

Until then, Barbagallo warns students to be careful about what they eat.

"Students should make sure they wash their raw vegetables thoroughly before eating them," he said.

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