Almost six months after the E. coli – found primarily in spinach – outbreak spread across the country, students and campus food venues look back at the incident.
When the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) suggested that spinach from California may be the cause of the E. coli epidemic, it advised consumers to avoid eating all spinach to avoid consumption of tainted food, according to the Food and Drug Administration’s Web site.
A joint effort of the California Food and Drug Branch and the California Food Emergency Response Team (CalFERT) investigated the source of the E. coli.
The FDA’s Web site also states that the joint FDA/State of California investigation found that the same strain of E. coli that was involved in the outbreak was also found in samples taken from a stream, feces of cattle and wild pigs present on California ranches.
The campus eatery Nugget Grill and Pub’s manager confirmed that steps were taken to ensure that the spread of E. coli would not reach the grill’s customers and that product companies were contacted to make sure their products were OK.
During the time of the E. coli outbreak, the Jamba Juice company also found that its strawberries were contaminated not with E. coli but with a food-borne pathogen called Listeria monocytogenes, as reported on Jamba Juice’s Web site.
Robeks Juice’s store manager Pedro Villarreal said that the food epidemics did not really affect the company. With regards to the Jamba Juice incident, Villarreal said that “during the scare, people asked if Robeks was involved.” He said it is assumed that the products Robeks uses are safe because Robeks’ distributors pack and clean the products.
“We don’t put it under a microscope,” said Villarreal.
