http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-water21sep21,0,2311007.story?coll=la-home-headlines
E. Coli Pervades Harvest Area
Salinas Valley waterways are known to carry the bacteria that poisoned at
least 145 people and killed one who ate tainted spinach.
By Marla Cone
Times Staff Writer
September 21, 2006
The bacterium that has sickened people across the nation and forced growers
to destroy spinach crops is so pervasive in the Salinas Valley that
virtually every waterway there violates national standards.
"There are many sources of water coming into the watershed, and I guarantee
you that they all have generic E. coli," and many carry the deadly E. coli
strain linked to food poisonings, said Christopher Rose, an environmental
scientist at the state's Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control
Board, which tests the region's waterways.
Federal officials said Wednesday they are focusing on nine fields in San
Benito, Santa Clara and Monterey counties as possible sources of the
bacteria-contaminated spinach that killed one woman and sickened at least
145 others in 23 states.
Investigators also announced that spinach found in the refrigerator of a
New Mexico resident who became ill tested positive for E. coli 0157:H7, the
dangerous bacteria strain responsible for the outbreak. The finding
confirmed suspicions that the tainted spinach originated from California's
Central Coast, where it was packaged by Natural Selection Foods under the
Dole label.
Monterey County's Salinas Valley is one of the world's most intensely
farmed regions and a major supplier of lettuce and spinach to the nation.
The current outbreak of food poisoning marks the 20th time since 1995 that
the dangerous E. coli strain has been linked to lettuce or spinach.
The source of the pathogen has not yet been pinpointed, but tainted water
is considered a likely culprit.
Many creeks and streams near the region's spinach fields, including the
Salinas River, Gabilan Creek, Towne Creek, Tembladero Slough and Old
Salinas River Estuary, are known to be carriers of the E. coli strain
implicated in the food poisonings. When consumed, people experience
cramping, diarrhea and, in severe cases, kidney failure.
Although the growers do not draw water from creeks to irrigate their
fields, their crops could be tainted by runoff from nearby livestock
operations or Central Coast urban areas.
"What is troublesome with this particular watershed is that it has
low-lying land in agricultural production, and flooding certainly occurs in
the lower portions. If we have high levels of E. coli in surface waters and
they are flooded onto fields, that is certainly a potential source of
contamination," Rose said.
Only one waterway in the lower Salinas River watershed does not violate
federal E. coli standards, and it is in a state park, surrounded by natural
land. Some waterways are so contaminated they contain 12,000 or more
organisms per 100 milliliters of water 30 times the Environmental
Protection Agency's standard. Ingesting just a few organisms can make a
person sick.
E. coli is ubiquitous in the environment because it is found in the
intestines of every species of warm-blooded animal. Wherever there is
feces, whether bird, human, cow, or dog, there is E. coli. "The presence of
E. coli in water is a strong indication of recent sewage or animal waste
contamination," said Dale Kemery, spokesman for the EPA's Office of Water.
Packagers take great care to destroy bacteria on greens, washing lettuce or
spinach in baths of water, chlorine and citric acid before spinning it dry
and sealing it in plastic bags.
The O157:H7 strain was first recognized as a cause of illness during a 1982
outbreak traced to fast food hamburgers. But its prevalence in most regions
is unknown because there is no EPA requirement to test for it in waterways,
wells or irrigation water, Kemery said.
After food poisoning outbreaks several years ago, regional water officials
stepped up sampling and added analysis for the deadly strain in the Salinas
watershed, finding the bacteria in several waterways next to areas where
livestock graze.
E. coli is a national problem, but it is especially severe in livestock
areas. A single cow can shed as much as 100 billion fecal bacteria per day.
The food-poisoning outbreak could pit vegetable growers against livestock
owners, both economic powerhouses in the state.
Monterey County's spinach fields are downstream of the Gabilan Mountains,
where beef cattle, dairy cows and horses graze. En route to the Salinas
River, many tributaries flow through the livestock areas, picking up
bacteria. The water then flows through the low-lying valley where
vegetables are grown.
Cattle and other livestock graze near the banks of the creeks, and their
manure can easily contaminate the water with millions of E. coli organisms.
"In some areas, grazing has resulted in manure lining the banks of channels
of tributaries to the Salinas River," a June report by the Central Coast
water board stated.
How much of the region's water contamination comes from cattle is unknown.
"What is certain is that livestock are a source of E. coli, including E.
coli O157:H7," in several creeks that flow into the Salinas River, the
board's report concluded. It also found that "the most frequent occurrence
of E. coli O157:H7 occurs at sites flanking areas used for grazing purposes."
Complicating matters, urban areas are sources as well. Runoff flowing from
streets in Monterey County also carries E. coli, largely from dogs, cats
and other domestic or wild animals. In Salinas, storm water, measured in
June, contained 14,550 E. coli organisms per milliliter, 36 times the EPA
standard.
Water used for drinking supplies and irrigation is not threatened by the
bacteria because it is drawn from deep wells, more than 100 feet below the
surface, and bacteria is readily filtered by the region's clay soil.
Consequently, Rose said the groundwater that Salinas Valley growers use to
irrigate fields is probably not to blame for the outbreak. Owners of
irrigation wells and private wells do not have to test for bacteria or
comply with the EPA's drinking water standards, but large Salinas Valley
growers test their wells anyway, at the request of grocery chains concerned
about food safety, he said.
"These outbreaks make it appear that the produce was contaminated before
harvest. It's a strong suspicion by everyone. So some of the things the
investigators will look for is whether certain fields flooded and the
quality of the irrigation water used, the location of farms near where
animals may be grazing, and whether any wildlife may frequent certain
farms," said Robert Mandrell, leader of the produce-safety and microbiology
unit at the USDA's Agricultural Research Service in Albany, Calif.
State agricultural leaders say that if livestock are contaminating leafy
green crops, they will work together because their aim is the same:
Ensuring the safety of food produced in California, which has been the
nation's leading supplier for over half a century.
Statewide, several hundred ranchers have already installed fencing to keep
grazing cattle away from waterways in a program begun a decade ago, said
Matt Byrne, executive vice president of the California Cattlemen's Assn.
"Truly we all have the same incentive to preserve the land and the water
that is so critical to us in providing a safe food supply to people around
the world," Byrne said.
Other than water, another likely source of the tainted spinach is wild
animals, particularly birds. Experts say migrating birds, which digest the
bacteria in manure and then fly over the spinach fields leaving droppings,
could be responsible for poisoning hundreds of people.
Rose completed this year's water testing on Wednesday and now U.S.
Department of Agriculture microbiologists are analyzing the data for clues
to the origin of the outbreak which will take weeks.
"From my experience working with pathogen-related issues, it is seldom the
case where you can find 'the source.' The sources are multiple. There are
so many carriers of O157:H7 as well as generic E. coli that it's hard to
pin down," Rose said.
Tracking the origin of this specific pathogen is difficult for several
reasons. Water tests can only detect the presence of the bacteria, not its
concentration. In addition, it can easily move around and disappear.
Ingesting just a few organisms can make a person sick.
"You may find it in a sample, and then 30 seconds later you may not find it
in a second sample from the exact same site," Mandrell said.
The Clean Water Act requires all U.S. waterways to comply with bacteria
standards. In addition, California has a "zero discharge" rule for
livestock operations no runoff is allowed.
Both mandates, however, are difficult to enforce.
The water board is now developing new limits, called Total Maximum Daily
Loads, in an effort to bring the Salinas River watershed into compliance
with the federal law. That could mean costly new controls on the livestock
industry as well as cities responsible for cleaning up runoff.
"Given the fact that we have elevated concentrations in this area, and
given the fact that we now have this outbreak, it seems apparent we need
more regulation" to clean up the region's waterways, Rose said.
===
NY Times, September 21, 2006
Op-Ed Contributor
Leafy Green Sewage
By NINA PLANCK
FARMERS and food safety officials still have much to figure out about the
recent spate of E. coli infections linked to raw spinach. So far, no
particular stomachache has been traced to any particular farm irrigated by
any particular river.
There is also no evidence so far that Natural Selection Foods, the huge
shipper implicated in the outbreak that packages salad greens under more
than two dozen brands, including Earthbound Farm, O Organic and the
Farmers Market, failed to use proper handling methods.
Indeed, this epidemic, which has infected more than 100 people and resulted
in at least one death, probably has little do with the folks who grow and
package your greens. The detective trail ultimately leads back to a
seemingly unrelated food industry beef and dairy cattle.
First, some basic facts about this usually harmless bacterium: E. coli is
abundant in the digestive systems of healthy cattle and humans, and if your
potato salad happened to be carrying the average E. coli, the acid in your
gut is usually enough to kill it.
But the villain in this outbreak, E. coli O157:H7, is far scarier, at least
for humans. Your stomach juices are not strong enough to kill this
acid-loving bacterium, which is why its more likely than other members of
the E. coli family to produce abdominal cramps, diarrhea, fever and, in
rare cases, fatal kidney failure.
Where does this particularly virulent strain come from? Its not found in
the intestinal tracts of cattle raised on their natural diet of grass, hay
and other fibrous forage. No, O157 thrives in a new that is, recent in
the history of animal diets biological niche: the unnaturally acidic
stomachs of beef and dairy cattle fed on grain, the typical ration on most
industrial farms. Its the infected manure from these grain-fed cattle that
contaminates the groundwater and spreads the bacteria to produce, like
spinach, growing on neighboring farms.
In 2003, The Journal of Dairy Science noted that up to 80 percent of dairy
cattle carry O157. (Fortunately, food safety measures prevent contaminated
fecal matter from getting into most of our food most of the time.) Happily,
the journal also provided a remedy based on a simple experiment. When cows
were switched from a grain diet to hay for only five days, O157 declined
1,000-fold.
This is good news. In a week, we could choke O157 from its favorite home
even if beef cattle were switched to a forage diet just seven days before
slaughter, it would greatly reduce cross-contamination by manure of, say,
hamburger in meat-packing plants. Such a measure might have prevented the
E. coli outbreak that plagued the Jack in the Box fast food chain in 1993.
Unfortunately, it would take more than a week to reduce the contamination
of ground water, flood water and rivers all irrigation sources on spinach
farms by the E-coli-infected manure from cattle farms.
The United States Department of Agriculture does recognize the threat from
these huge lagoons of waste, and so pays 75 percent of the cost for a
confinement cattle farmer to make manure pits watertight, either by lining
them with concrete or building them above ground. But taxpayers are
financing a policy that only treats the symptom, not the disease, and at
great expense. There remains only one long-term remedy, and its still the
simplest one: stop feeding grain to cattle.
Californias spinach industry is now the financial victim of an outbreak it
probably did not cause, and meanwhile, thousands of acres of other produce
are still downstream from these lakes of E. coli-ridden cattle manure. So
give the spinach growers a break, and direct your attention to the people
in our agricultural community who just might be able to solve this deadly
problem: the beef and dairy farmers.
Nina Planck is the author of Real Food: What to Eat and Why.
--
www.marxmail.org
