E. Coli Spinach Contamination Case: Sacramento Bee, "Spinach firm has permit troubles"

No evidence of link between wastewater woes, E. coli outbreak

          The spinach-packaging company in the cross hairs of an investigation into a nationwide E. coli outbreak has struggled to manage its wastewater and is in violation of a state water disposal permit, according to public records and state officials.
          There is no indication these problems at Natural Selection Foods contributed to the current outbreak; by Wednesday investigators had not pinpointed a single source. But federal officials said wastewater management and processing habits at Natural Selection and other companies have not been ruled out.
          "Yes, the investigation of the plants is ongoing, and investigators have been in there looking at all the practices in the plants in terms of areas where spinach could have been contaminated in the process," said Dr. David Acheson, chief medical officer with the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.

Learn more about e. coli spinach contaminations and poisoning injury lawsuits.