Seattle distributor recalls salad products that may contain tainted spinach

Monday, September 25th 2006, 6:23 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) _ A Seattle company is recalling some salad products distributed in the Northwest because they may contain fresh spinach contaminated with E. coli, the Food and Drug Administration said Monday.

The recall, by Triple B Corp., involves products with spinach that may have been supplied by Natural Selections Foods, a California grower. Many of the 173 people sickened in the nation's E. coli outbreak reported eating spinach supplied by National Selections.

So far, 92 people have been hospitalized, including a Wisconsin woman who died. Two other deaths have been reported in suspected cases _ a child in Idaho and an elderly woman in Maryland _ but those cases are still being investigated.

State and federal investigators since have traced the contaminated spinach back to three counties in California's Salinas Valley. The FDA has recommended people not eat fresh, raw spinach, though on Friday it said that spinach grown anywhere outside that area is safe to eat.

Triple B, also known as S.T. Produce, is recalling salad products distributed to retail stores and delis in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana, the FDA said. They were sold in a hard plastic container with a ``use by'' date of Aug. 22 through Sept. 20 on the bottom of the container.

The 25 states that have reported infections are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.