The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is warning people not to eat fresh spinach imported from the United States.

The warning comes in the wake of an E. coli outbreak in 19 states that has killed one person and sickened nearly 100 others. Twenty-nine people have been hospitalized, 14 of them with kidney failure.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is warning people not to eat fresh spinach imported from the United States.
(CBC)

No cases have been reported in Canada.

Washing the spinach won't make it safe because the E. coli sticks to the leaves tightly. "If you wash it, it is not going to get rid of it," Robert Brackett, of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Food Safety and Nutrition, told the Associated Press on Friday.

Supermarkets across the U.S. have pulled spinach from shelves, and consumers have tossed out the leafy green.

The outbreak was traced to Natural Selection Foods, based in California, and the company has voluntarily recalled products containing spinach.

Link established

FDA officials stressed that the bacteria had not been isolated in products sold by Natural Selection Foods but that the link had been established by patient accounts of what they had eaten before becoming ill.

An investigation was continuing.

"It is possible that the recall and the information will extend beyond Natural Selection Foods and involve other brands and other companies, at other dates," said Dr. David Acheson, the chief medical officer with the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.

Natural Selection Foods LLC said in a statement that it was co-operating with federal and state health officials to identify the source of the contamination and had stopped shipping all fresh spinach products. They are sold under the brand names Rave Spinach, Natural Selection Foods, Dole, Earthbound Farm, Trader Joe's, Ready Pac and Green Harvest.

The FDA said the outbreak involves O157:H7, the same E. coli strain that killed seven people in Walkerton, Ont., in 2000.

There is no indication that E. coli has contaminated spinach in Canada, said René Cardinal, CFIA's acting national manager for fresh fruits and vegetables. The FDA will keep the Canadian agency informed of the progress of its investigation.

The main problem appears to be in Wisconsin, which reported  29 illnesses, about one-third of the cases, including the only death.

More states added to list

Other states affected include California, Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

E. coli is the short term for Escherichia coli, an umbrella term for a species of bacteria that resides in the intestines of mammals.

It causes an estimated 61 deaths a year out of 73,000 cases of infection in the United States, the CDC website says.

"Most illness has been associated with eating undercooked, contaminated ground beef. Person-to-person contact in families and child-care centres is also an important mode of transmission. Infection can also occur after drinking raw milk, and after swimming in or drinking sewage-contaminated water," the site says.

In another development, the CFIA warned Friday that Homestyle Garlic Croutons sold by Wendy's restaurants in Ontario and Quebec may be contaminated with salmonella, and has issued a recall.

With files from the Associated Press