Spinach is back in the spotlight of food safety news.
This time it’s salmonella that has prompted the Canadian
Food Inspection Agency and Ippolito Fruit and Produce Ltd. of Burlington to
recall three brands of spinach – Frisco’s, Queen Victoria and Metro.
Distribution is definitely to stores across Ontario and
Quebec and might be national, according to the CFIA website.
The CFIA says there have been “no reported illnesses
associated with the consumption of these products.”
This case comes close to the fourth anniversary of a major
Ippolito International recall of 1,715 cartons of California spinach.
This February, Taylor Farms of California recalled a large
volume of baby spinach, including shipments to the Kroger supermarket chain.
Spinach is notorious for food poisoning because bacteria
hide in the cracks and crevices of leaves, making them hard to dislodge.
At a food-safety conference in Toronto a few years ago, a
Toronto wholesaler who supplies salads to major fast-food restaurant chains
said his company will not use spinach in salads because the food-safety risk is
too great.
