Feb 16, 2012
Texas spinach contamination: Farm’s owner says there was no evidence at farm, processor

The owner of the farm in Texas whose spinach was the subject of a recent voluntary recall says the sample that tested positive for E. coli came from an expired bag and that subsequent investigation turned up no evidence of contamination at the farm or processor.

A recently released FDA enforcement report revealed that more than 228,000 pounds of cut-leaf curly spinach distributed in Colorado, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Ontario was voluntarily recalled back in December after a sample tested positive for E. coli. Blogosphere watchdogs have been critical of the fact that the FDA didn’t release information about a December event until February – long after all of the spinach would have been consumed or returned as part of a voluntary recall of the product in late December.

There is an FDA press release on the voluntary recall dated Dec. 23 on the FDA website.

Edward Ritchie, owner of Tiro Tres Farms in Eagle Pass, Texas, said he doesn’t know why the FDA didn’t issue a formal recall. The FDA has not yet responded to our inquiries.

Ritchie said that the load in question was harvested Nov. 28 and received at the repacker, Avon Heights Mushrooms in Avondale, Pa., around Dec. 2. He also said only one load of 920 30-lb. containers, or 27,600 pounds, was in question; the FDA’s higher numbers referenced total production for the entire field, he said.

“The FDA came down and spent three days in our facilities,” Ritchie said. “They spent two days in the field with us, watched everything from beginning to end on processing, and could not detect or find anything.

“It was the same thing at this facility in Pennsylvania. They checked out OK.”

Ritchie said he’s seen no test results yet. There were no reports of anyone getting sick from eating the spinach, according to Ritchie and the FDA press release.

“The only feedback I got was that it was a bag that was supposed to have been expired on the 16th of December, and I think they tested it on the 21st of December, and we got word on the 23rd of December for a voluntary recall and that’s what we did,” he said. “Most of this stuff had already been distributed and consumed.”

Ritchie said there’s a reason for expiration dates on food, and that his company strives to deliver a safe product to market.

“This isn’t the first time these things ever happened to us in 88 years,” he said. “We do everything humanly possible that we can to prevent anything like this.”




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