Restaurants Pull Spinach

Sept. 20, 2006 — -- Spinach has been heralded by Popeye, called a superfood, and promoted by nutritionists as cancer fighting, but this week spinach took a beating.

In 21 states, there have been 131 cases of spinach-related E. coli poisoning and one death since the California outbreak was reported last week, according to the Food and Drug Administration. With these kinds of numbers, as well as an FDA and National Restaurant Association warning, restaurants are taking no chances.

For the time being, McDonald's has pulled spinach from its salads. The Cheesecake Factory Restaurants, with locations in 20 states, are not serving any fresh or frozen spinach at all.

According to Howard Gordon, vice president of communications, the company has sent all its spinach back to distributors and removed the dozen or so dishes that included spinach from the menu.

This take-no-chances attitude pervades in smaller, nonchain restaurants too. Greek Islands Restaurant, a popular eatery in Chicago's Greek Town neighborhood, has temporarily stopped using spinach as well. That means it can't serve its most-popular dish, spanakopita, or spinach pie. But restaurant manager Angelo Petratos said it is a sacrifice worth making.

"We are just playing it safe" and "waiting for the FDA to tell us it is safe to eat spinach again," Petratos said.

Currently, the FDA and the California Department of Health Services are working to identify the exact source of the E. coli outbreak. They are looking into irrigation methods, harvest conditions and other practices that may have led to this E. coli breakout.

The investigators have linked the E. coli to produce from Natural Selection and River Ranch, two California companies that process spinach in San Juan Bautista and sell it to more to 30 labels.

The spinach grown in other parts of the country is likely safe. But nevertheless, restaurant managers say it is easier to not serve spinach right now, regardless of where it is grown. The negative public perception of the leafy green is just too great.

One of America's most highly regarded chefs, Alice Waters of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif., is not willing to yield to the negative spinach rap.

Waters said she is keeping fresh spinach on her menu because she knows the farmers and producers she gets it from personally. Waters has long promulgated the value of local, seasonal produce.

"I don't like to eat food that is so anonymously produced," said Waters. She points out that by relying on locally grown produce from small farmers, she can be more confident that the food is fresh and is less likely to be exposed to widespread contamination.

"Something about the centralization of the food system is frightening," she said. "If something were to happen, like the E. coli breakout, it can be controlled when it's coming from one little farm."

But this week's spinach E. coli breakout does not stem from small farms, or locally bought produce. According to the California farm Bureau Federation, 74 percent of fresh spinach grown in the United States comes from big California producers.

Moreover, this spinach is distributed to stores all over the country, making it hard to track down. Currently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is working toward some conclusions about the E. coli outbreak. It has interviewed people who became sick from the bacteria to discern what they ate and where they ate it, and what brands of spinach they may have bought. It has compiled the information into a centralized database, in an effort to end the current spinach scare.

Maybe then, we can go back to eating spanakopita without fear.