Shoppers change their buying habits after E. coli contamination of spinach

LOS ANGELES -- Shoppers changed their buying habits Saturday as spinach was pulled from grocery store shelves because of the outbreak of E. coli bacteria that had killed one person and sickened more than 100 others.\nThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned consumers not to eat fresh spinach, as Natural Selection Foods LLC recalled its packaged spinach throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. The move came as a precaution after federal health officials said some of those hospitalized reported eating brands of prepackaged spinach distributed by the company.\nThe officials stressed that the bacteria had not been isolated in products sold by the holding company, based in San Juan Bautista, Calif., and known for Earthbound Farm and other brands. As the investigation continues, other brands might be implicated, officials said.\nAt a Safeway grocery in San Francisco's Potrero Hill neighborhood, many of bagged produce shelves were empty Saturday. Anna Cairns said she had to settle for bags of iceberg green lettuce and Caesar salad, instead of her normal salad mix, which contained spinach.\n"I have a bag of spinach in my refrigerator I need to throw away," said Cairns, 59, of San Francisco.\nMarina Zecevic, 49, of West Los Angeles, shopping at a Trader Joe's, said she made the mistake of serving creamed spinach to her kids the day the story broke.\n"My sons started accusing me of premeditated murder," she said.\nShe felt the contamination issue was overblown.\n"The minute we get the all clear, the spinach is back on the table," she said.\nThe spinach, grown in California, could have been contaminated in the field or during processing, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.\nAbout 74 percent of the fresh market spinach grown in the United States comes from California, according to the California Farm Bureau Federation. There have been previous bacterial contamination outbreaks linked to spinach and lettuce grown in the state.