Food Safety

For consumers worried about E. coli on their cantaloupe or pesticides on their peaches, there's a new form of alleged assistance on grocery store shelves: bottled washes that promise to remove pesticide residues, wax, dirt and bacteria from fruit and vegetables. Given the recent string of nationwide outbreaks linked to produce -- salmonella on peanuts earlier this year, salmonella on jalapeño peppers last year, and E. coli O157:H7 on spinach in 2006 -- the antibacterial claims may be particularly alluring: A growing number of washes bearing such claims have arrived on the market in recent years.

A Salinas, Calif., company is recalling 1,715 cartons of recently harvested spinach after discovering salmonella, the California Department of Public Health said. The spinach was harvested Sept. 1 to 3 and packed in 12 to 24 bundles in each wire-bound crate or reusable plastic container. Distributor Ippolito International sold the greens to retail, food-service and wholesale buyers. The recall affects 1,515 cartons shipped under the Queen Victoria label to Canada, California and 11 other states.

Early on an October evening, their cars began filling a city parking lot on Breed Street, less than a block from well-lighted shops along Cesar Chavez Avenue in the busiest commercial corridor of Boyle Heights. The street vendors, arriving to sell carne asada, tamales, flautas and steamed tacos, once created a culinary destination known to draw hundreds of customers.

Shoppers will have more information about where their food comes from under a new policy starting Monday. Labels on most fresh meats, some fruits, vegetables and other foods will now list where the food originated. In the case of meats, some labels will list where the animal was born, raised and slaughtered. Food safety groups have long lobbied for the policy, which was enacted by Congress as part of a wide-ranging farm bill last year. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack last month asked the meat industry to go beyond the new policy, which was written by the Bush administration, to be even more specific about where an animal was born, raised and slaughtered.

The Texas plant owned by a peanut company blamed in a national salmonella outbreak that sickened nearly 700 people has been fined $14.6 million. The Texas Department of State Health Services said it was fining Plainview Peanut Co. over violations that include unsanitary conditions, product contamination, illnesses linked to peanuts from their plant and operating without a food manufacturers' license. The plant was shut down Feb. 9. Plant owner Peanut Corp. of America has been blamed for the outbreak believed to have caused at least nine deaths.

In the wake of the salmonella outbreak, Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue has signed a bill that would make the state the first to require food makers to swiftly alert state inspectors if their internal tests show products are tainted. The proposed food safety regulations would require the food processors to report the results within 24 hours. Perdue says it will help "guard the safety and security of our food supply from bad actors." The proposal moved rapidly through the Georgia Legislature after the salmonella outbreak that was traced to a south Georgia peanut processing plant.

TODAY Treasury releases federal budget for June. House Financial Services subcommittee hearing on preventing unfair trading by government officials. Quarterly earnings report expected from CSX. TUESDAY Commerce Department releases retail sales report for June. Commerce Department releases report on business inventories for May. Labor Department releases producer price index for June. House Financial Services subcommittee hearing on the role of the Securities and Exchange Commission in the president's proposed financial overhaul.

The House passed a far-reaching food safety bill in the wake of the recent outbreak of salmonella in peanuts that killed at least nine people. The legislation would require more government inspections and oversight of food manufacturers and give the Food and Drug Administration new authority to order recalls. It also would require the FDA to develop a system for better tracing food-borne illnesses, and allow the government to penalize those who violate the law. Food companies would be required to create detailed food safety plans.

Records show a California beef processor that recalled tons of hamburger meat because of salmonella fears was slapped with humane handling violations in a government review of meatpacking plants last year. At least 28 people in three Western states have reported salmonella-related illnesses since Fresno-based Beef Packers Inc. recalled nearly 826,000 pounds of ground beef Thursday. U.S. Department of Agriculture auditors visited the slaughterhouse in March 2008. Inspection records show some cattle were being electrically stunned and rendered unconscious so they could be pulled through an area inside the slaughterhouse.