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Homepage > Other Industry News > Tainted spinach sparks...

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Tainted spinach sparks product announcements

By Ahmed ElAmin

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10/3/2006 - In the wake of the e coli outbreak due to contaminated spinach, suppliers are rushing in to provide processors with the tools they might need to improve the safety of their packaged products.

Prominent among the products being touted as the answer to the industry's problems are those that can clean produce safely, and those that provide traceability.

Canada-based Biophage Pharma (BP) is one supplier who jumped at the chance to promote its cleaning products. Soon after the outbreak of disease linked to the bagged spinach, the company announced that its biosensor and phage products could help processors reduce bacterial contamination in food produce.

Bacteriophages are viruses that target bacteria, rather than human, plant or animal cells. For every bacteria, there is a phage that likes to latch on to them, take over their life processes and multiply. The baby phages then burst out to attack other nearby targets, thus killing the host cell.

In August the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted its first ever approval of a bacteriophage-based product for use in food. Baltimore-based Intralytix received approval for its LMP-102 bacteriophage as a meat additive.

Biophage Pharma says it has built up an extensive library of phages that can be used against a large number of bacterial pathogens. The company developed its technology after an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak in Walkerton, Ontario led to the death of seven people.

Biophage says its library of  phages could be developed as a powerful treatment for the control of E. coli O157:H7 bacterial contamination in food
produce.

The company also suggests that its existing biosensor technologies can be developed to detect and identify live bacteria in a produce sample.

ScoringAg is another company that sees opportunity from the breakdown in food safety that resulted in the tainted spinach entering the market. ScoringAg marketing a product labeling system that provides managers with access to complete product source and traceback records at the time of purchase.

The company's traceback barcode label can provide a means of tracking a product through the supply chain. The label can be designed as an exclusive micro-brand. By scanning the barcode or searching the SSI-EID code, processors can access the origin and other pertinent public information about
the product including certification details and images.

The traceback barcodes for product labels can be used with or without radio frequency identification chips to allow the buyer to access
specific certification product traceback records to regulators.

Information from the company's online Point-to-Point Traceback system can be displayed at any point during food production. The information in the barcode can be accessed in the field or at any site during the food handling process, ScoringAg claims.

"Traceback and source verification for every handler in the food chain, including testing and lab results increases the product's value and builds buyer confidence at all sales levels," the company stated.

In other related news Natural Selection Foods, the California company fingered by the FDA as the source of the E. coli outbreak, has offered to compensate victims of the tainted spinach. Natural Selection packs spinach and other produce for a number of brand names, including Dole.

To date, 187 cases of illness due to E. coli O157:H7 infection have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including 29 cases of kidney failure, 97 hospitalizations and one death.

The company also announced that it has introduced new safety measures, including regular testing for E. coli when produce arrives at its plants.

Natural Selection's suppliers have also agreed to implement hygiene and food safety measures similar to those used at Natural Selection's packaging plants.

Meanwhile seven produce organizations worldwide have banded together to form a federation that will attempt to set standards for the sector.

The International Federation for Produce Standards (IFPS) includes the Asociacion de Exportadores de Chile, the Canadian Produce Marketing Association, the UK's Fresh Produce Consortium, Horticulture Australia, Norges Frukt-og Gronnsaksgrossisters Forbund in Norway, United Fresh in New Zealand, and US-based Produce Marketing Association.

The IFPS will provide an international forum to address the issues faced by the produce sector. Initially the IFPS will focus on four key issues. These are the formation of standards for emerging technologies, traceability, pesticides and recommendations on good agricultural practices.

“All of us involved sincerely believe this provides a tremendous opportunity to eliminate previous fragmentation in efforts towards standards which affect our truly global industry,” the organisation stated in announcing its formation.

The move comes as the FDA called on producers of spinach and other leafy greens to develop a plan to minimize the risk of another outbreak.

"Implementation of these plans will be voluntary, but FDA and the State of California are not excluding the possibility of regulatory requirements in the future," the regulator warned.

The FDA will be holding a public meeting to address the larger issue of food borne illness linked to leafy greens later in the year once it completes its investigation of the outbreak.

E. coli O157:H7 can cause abdominal pain, bloody diarrhea, and in some cases, including in this outbreak, Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome, which causes kidney failure and death. By issuing this alert to the public earlier than in past outbreaks, the FDA has probably prevented even more people from getting sick or dying.

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