CDC Took Days To Warn Of E.Coli Outbreak
http://www.wesh.com/news/10416448/detail.html

ORLANDO, Fla. -- This summer's massive spinach recall was a
health emergency that shook the nation. Bags of fresh spinach
were pulled from stores' shelves after people got sick and
some even died. Some of the youngest victims are just now
coming home from the hospital, WESH 2 News reported.

In September, a nationwide recall was ordered after
E. coli-tainted spinach killed three people and sickened hundreds.

Just after 4 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 8, a Wisconsin microbiologist
sent an urgent message to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
via a national computer database known as PulseNet.

The only problem was that everyone at the CDC had gone home for
the weekend. Since it was after 5 p.m. in Atlanta, the urgent
sat on their computer all weekend.

The heightened response is due in large part to the anthrax scare.
In fact, a dozen bacteria have been turned into weapons.

The CDC has not made any changes and said PulseNet worked just fine.

Scientists cross pigs with spinach (2002):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1780541.stm

Nat. Pork-Spinach Board says: Spinach incident raises nagging safety questions
http://www.courierpress.com/news/200...ety-questions/
"On the whole, we believe the most powerful benefits
for consumers and the public at-large come from
commercial grade agriculture," said Grow America President
Brose McVey.

Spice coatings may make produce safer
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll...611300373/1040

Oregano-flavored tomatoes or cinnamon-flavored apples
brightly wrapped in edible colored films could soon
protect consumers from outbreaks of food-borne disease.
Scientists have created an all-natural, microbe-killing
coating for fruits and vegetables made out of apple
puree and natural proteins mixed with oils of oregano,
lemon grass or cinnamon.

Commonly consumed as spices or in other foods, these
"essential oils" are safe for people but readily kill microbes.
Three minutes of exposure to a coating containing oregano oil
killed half of the Escherichia coli bacteria in a sample of
the microbes.

In the wake of the recent outbreak of E. coli in spinach
that sickened 200 people and left three dead, the coatings
could offer consumers safer fresh produce.

"These antimicrobial edible films and coatings offer an
alternative way to further improve the safety of foods,"
said food engineer Tara H. McHugh of the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
the project's lead scientist.

McHugh and her colleagues published their findings in this
week's Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

The USDA researchers have collaborated with a company called
Origami Foods to test vegetable films. The first commercial
antimicrobial coatings could be available within the next year,
McHugh said.