Grocery Stores Clear Shelves of Fresh Spinach After Bacteria Is Found

New Yorkers looking for fresh spinach are leaving many major supermarkets empty-handed following an E. coli outbreak that has affected more than 100 people across the country.Gristedes and Associated food stores were among those who pulled their packets of spinach off the shelves on Friday morning, and managers at several stores said they had no idea when their stores would begin accepting shipments again.“We took everything off the shelves,” a manager at the Gristedes in Battery Park City, Keritz Montana, said yesterday. Mr. Montana said the fresh spinach was removed on Saturday morning on orders from company officials. It will be sent back to the warehouse today.The Gristedes on Eighth Avenue and 54th Street had pulled its spinach a day earlier, and the leafy greens were nowhere to be found on Friday at the Fairway market on Broadway at 76th Street.Federal health officials are warning Americans not to eat fresh spinach or foods that contain fresh spinach after people infected with a strain of the E. coli bacteria reported they had eaten pre-packaged spinach. The Centers for Disease Control says that more than 100 people across the country have been sickened by the outbreak, and one woman has died.Tainted spinach has been reported in 19 states, including New York. California-based National Selection Foods has recalled all of its spinach products throughout North America.The state Department of Health has confirmed seven cases in upstate New York of the O157:H7 strain of E. coli found in the national outbreak of tainted spinach. None have been confirmed in the city. The city’s Health Department said it had investigated 10 recent cases of the E. coli infection as well as the related hemolytic uremic syndrome. One case matched the national outbreak strain, but the patient reported eating no spinach, the department said.An Associated supermarket in South Ozone Park removed its spinach as soon as workers heard reports of the E. coli outbreak on Friday, its manager, Julio Reyes, said. “We didn’t want to take any chances,” he said.Mr. Reyes said the store had put up a sign referring to the recall, but customers still asked about the spinach. He said many residents in the neighborhood were of West Indian descent and frequently use spinach when they cook.The spinach recall also forced city restaurants to make adjustments. At Salaam Bombay, an Indian restaurant on Greenwich Street in TriBeCa, the chef substituted okra for spinach in Diwani Handi, a dish of assorted vegetables served in a spinach-based sauce. The restaurant threw out $150 worth of spinach, its owner, Ramesh Shah, said.

Grocery Stores Clear Shelves of Fresh Spinach After Bacteria Is Found

Grocery Stores Clear Shelves of Fresh Spinach After Bacteria Is Found

More from the New York Sun

A Muddled ‘Real Ivanov’ Strains for Modern Resonance

Did Eve Arden Live the Life Sylvia Plath Desired?

Washington Slow To Tackle a Brewing Crisis, as America’s Most Powerful Mideast Allies, Turkey and Israel, Lock Horns

Hasan Piker’s Mockery of Charlie Kirk Updates Orwell’s ‘Two Minutes Hate’ for the Podcast Era

WNBA Rejects Draft Bid From Former NBA Players, Calling Intentions a ‘Publicity Stunt’

Roni Ben-Hur’s Stylish Latin Jazz Entente

Finding the Altalena

The Rent Freeze Case Moves to Manhattan

More from the New York Sun

A Muddled ‘Real Ivanov’ Strains for Modern Resonance

Did Eve Arden Live the Life Sylvia Plath Desired?

Washington Slow To Tackle a Brewing Crisis, as America’s Most Powerful Mideast Allies, Turkey and Israel, Lock Horns

Hasan Piker’s Mockery of Charlie Kirk Updates Orwell’s ‘Two Minutes Hate’ for the Podcast Era

WNBA Rejects Draft Bid From Former NBA Players, Calling Intentions a ‘Publicity Stunt’

Roni Ben-Hur’s Stylish Latin Jazz Entente

Finding the Altalena

The Rent Freeze Case Moves to Manhattan