The FDA Declares Spinach Safe to Eat

According to the FDA, it’s safe to eat most spinach again. The FDA’s warning about tainted spinach applies only to the specific brands recalled by Natural Selection Foods bearing the “best use by” dates of August 17th through October 1st. These brands include Earthbound Farms, Dole, Trader Joe’s and Ready Pac. A full list of affected brands, plus a list of the salad products recalled by other companies, is available on the FDA’s web site. While the FDA has yet to determine the cause of the E.coli outbreak, all the tainted spinach originated from Natural Selection Foods of San Juan Bautista, California.

The FDA and the State of California are hoping that the industry will redouble its efforts to ensure safe growing and handling practices. But relying on the voluntary implementation of food-safety measures might not be sufficient. After all, this is not the first E.coli O157:H7 outbreak involving leafy greens from Central California. It may take time for many to trust that prepackaged spinach and salad greens from California are indeed safe to eat.