The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned consumers not to packaged spinach throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico.
spinach distributed by the company.
in products sold by the holding company, based in San Juan Bautista, Calif., and known for Earthbound Farm and other brands.
As the investigation continues, other brands may be implicated, officials said.
neighborhood, many of bagged produce shelves were empty Saturday. lettuce and Caesar salad, instead of her normal salad mix, which contained spinach.
away," said Cairns, 59, of San Francisco.
Marina Zecevic, 49, of West Los Angeles, shopping at a Trader Joe's, said she made the mistake of serving creamed spinach to her kids the day the story broke.
"My sons started accusing me of premeditated murder," she She felt the contamination issue was overblown.
"The minute we get the all clear, the spinach is back on the table," she said.
The spinach, grown in California, could have been contaminated in the field or during processing, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
comes from California, according to the California Farm Bureau outbreaks linked to spinach and lettuce grown in the state.
illnesses, including the lone death, a 77-year-old woman who died of kidney failure.
Washington and Wyoming, according to the CDC.
"We are very, very upset about this.
What we do is produce food that we want to be healthy and safe for consumers, so this is a tragedy for us," Natural Selection spokeswoman Samantha Cabaluna said.
and retailers may be taking spinach out of bags before selling it, so consumers shouldn't buy it at all, the FDA said.
won't eliminate it, the CDC warned.
At a Stop and Shop supermarket in Meriden, Conn., Michelle husband but plans to cook it from now on.
"It worries me.
I don't even want to buy lettuce," said Bookey, 36.
Earthbound Farm, which claims it pioneered the retail market in pre-washed, bagged salads in 1986, says its spinach and other products are in 74 percent of U.S.
grocery stores.
were pulling spinach from their menus.
The recall earned the praise of Tom Stenzel, president and chief executive officer of the United Fresh Produce Association.
continuing risk, and begins to ensure that product that may be supply," Stenzel said in a statement.
and Oregon that named other spinach producers.
Associated Press writers Andrew Bridges in Washington, Justin M.
Norton in San Francisco, Ryan J. Foley in Madison, Wis., and Shelley Wong of Hartford, Conn.
, contributed to this story.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
News RSS