I Miss Spinach
We've eaten out so many times lately that, even though it was Saturday night, we wanted to stay in. Our restaurant habits have been getting expensive (in total contradicton to this post, I know), and, besides, we were missing our family table.
So I went to the grocery store, and a look at the produce aisle had me craving one of my new favorite veggie dishes: peel, cube, and slowly cook butternut squash (or sweet potatoes) in a heavy pan in olive oil and butter for about twenty minues. Near the end, when the squash is soft and starting to carmelize, add a few cups of fresh spinach and a little salt and pepper. Saute, serve, say yummm.
Alas, there was still no spinach to be found. Not at Fresh Market, not at Whole Foods, not at Harris Teeter. Not on any of the local self-serve salad bars. And not at any of the local quick-serve restaurants, either.
Pre-washed, bagged produce, like the recalled spinach, has been crucial to the quick-serve industry's ability to offer fresher, more nutritious choices like salads—and lettuce and tomato slices for your burgers that aren't rubbery or some strange shade of yellow. I can't emphasize how important that packaging process is for fast food. Without it, the labor costs are just too great to offer fresh produce within the quick-serve business structure.
Which means it's all the more important that the growers and packagers get it right.
A friend's brush with death first taught me about this scary strain of E. coli. She fell ill with the classic symptoms of E. coli poisoning, yet she never, ever ate red meat—thought to be source of E. coli. The
emergency rooms of two of the finest U.S. teaching hospitals (UNC and Duke) sent her home with antibiotics and advice to drink lots of fluids. Even though she was in her mid-twenties and very healthy, she developed TTP, a syndrome in which, basically, your red blood cells explode and clog your organs, including your kidneys, lungs, and, oh, your brain. It's the kind of food poisoning that kills, causes strokes, or just necessitates lifetime dialysis and eventual kidney transplants—if you're lucky.
All of her friends, also in our mid- to late twenties, were so scared for her. After two weeks of intense treament in the hospital, she turned the corner. Today she's perfectly healthy, married, and the mother of two small kids.
Weeks after her release, the authorities (the CDC, I suppose) traced the source to produce. Alfalfa sprouts, I think it was, on a sandwich from one of the "healthier" options at a local mall. I haven't eaten alfalfa sprouts since.*
So—I want spinach back, but I want it to be safe. And I want quick-serve companies to be confident in continuing to develop menu items around fresh produce.
In the wake of Foleygate and that bizarre plane crash in New York, it seems there's little space for spinach crop news. I've spotted a few follow-ups:
E. coli Exposes Weaknesses: The FDA has repeatedly told the entire industry to get the problem under control, but FDA does not have inspection or safety programs for produce like the Agriculture Department has for meat and poultry.
Faulty Warning System: A warning system meant to alert food companies in the event of a food poisoning outbreak failed one-third of the time in a recent government test.
Inpsection and Prevention: Woody Johnson, vice president of Growers Express LLC, which packages greens under brands such as Green Giant Fresh, told the AP, "No matter how isolated the strain, this has raised the bar for everyone in the industry in terms of inspection and prevention," he said. "We need to do whatever we have to do to restore consumers' confidence."
Worried Farmers: Now farmers are very concerned for the success of their winter spinach crops. Understandably so. Maybe Baby A and I will venture out to the farmer's market this afternoon to see if any farmers are bringing in spinach.
I, for one, can't wait to see spinach back on the shelves and salad bars of America. At Whole Foods, I overheard a produce stocker telling another customer the company would put spinach on the shelves again "when customer demand indicated it would sell."
I'm ready to buy! But, I'll probably saute spinach and other veggies for a good while. No fresh salads for a bit, until I hear more about improvements in the packaging and testing processes. How about you?
* Thanks, ECP, for letting me recount your story.
Comments
Now that I think more about it, a very few chains, like In-n-Out, manage to handle fresh produce. I believe that company prepares lettuce leaves and tomato slices by hand in its commissaries, which supply nearby locations.
That's still not to say these companies could create multiple salad items hundreds of times over each day, in-house.
- QSMama / Lea
Posted by: QSMama / Lea | October 18, 2006 06:53 PM