When Do We Get to Eat Spinach Again?

Maria and I live on Trader Joe's bagged spinach. We put it in pizza. In salads. We stir fry it for veggies. It's the easiest, most convenient veggie out there -- in three minutes you can stir fry it in olive oil and you're done.

We usually have several bags of TJ spinach in our fridge, which is why it was odd that we happened to be out of it when the E. coli scare erupted late last week.

Now, with the shelves remaining empty, I wonder when or if it will be safe again anytime soon to eat from a bag of spinach. Of course, my dietary woes are nothing compared to how the E. coli illnesses have devastated the farming community in central California, the L.A. Times reports:

Now, with fresh spinach linked to an unusually virulent outbreak that has killed one and sickened 130, the region has vaulted to new fame: E. coli capital of America.

In a mere five days, a whirlwind of health warnings and media reports has tarnished the reputation of its growers and processors so severely that experts predict some farms with large spinach crops may fail. Though they have tentatively linked some of the illnesses to Natural Selection, federal regulators have, in an abundance of caution, recommended against eating any fresh spinach, organic or otherwise. That has brought the spinach harvest to an abrupt halt.

Television crews have crisscrossed the valley, filming the heavily guarded gates at Natural Selection and scenes of verdant spinach fields soon to be plowed under.

They zoomed in this week on the two-story Popeye mural outside River Ranch Fresh Foods, a Salinas firm that was forced to recall three kinds of spinach-laced spring mix it purchased from Natural Selection.

Above, an infographic from the L.A. Times on how spinach is processed.