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Canada eases border restrictions on fresh spinach from the United States

Related Alerts: 2006-09-15 | 2006-09-15 | 2006-09-18
2006-10-30 - Canada eases border restrictions on fresh spinach from the United States

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has eased the import restrictions put in place in September as a result of the outbreak of E. coli 0157:H7 associated with fresh spinach. Imports of fresh spinach (including salad mixtures containing spinach) from the United States (U.S.) will now be allowed entry, with the exception of product grown in the San Benito and Monterey counties in California.

The Agency has taken a precautionary approach to protect Canadians from exposure to E. coli 0157:H7 and is confident that spinach grown outside of these counties does not represent a risk to Canadian consumers.

After the original detection of the outbreak, the CFIA promptly issued an advisory warning Canadians not to consume spinach from the U.S., a health hazard alert to identify the products for Canadian consumers and a recall of all affected products from California. As an additional precaution, the CFIA issued a border alert to prevent the entry of all imports of fresh spinach (including salad mixtures containing spinach) from the U.S. pending the outcome of the investigation of U.S. officials into the source of the outbreak.

In early October, the CFIA conducted an on-site visit in California to review the results of the U.S. investigation. To meet requirements stipulated by the CFIA, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has implemented a new origin identification program to verify that product has not originated in the San Benito and Monterey counties. In addition, following the outbreak, the CFIA strengthened its import and domestic microbial sampling program for leafy greens.

U.S. exporters can only ship product to Canada if they officially declare that it was not grown in either of these Californian counties. A false declaration is punishable under the U.S. Perishable Agriculture Commodities Act. This origin verification program will remain in place until the end of the shipping season in these counties, toward the end of November 2006. Afterwards, U.S. spinach will be allowed entry into Canada without origin declarations.

The CFIA's border alert remains in place to verify that fresh spinach imports do not originate from the affected counties. The CFIA will continue to work with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to review actions taken by industry to implement strong food safety measures, before it will consider imports from these areas when they resume production in 2007.

CFIA food safety experts have been working closely with their colleagues at the Public Health Agency of Canada, the USFDA and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to monitor the outbreak and take corrective actions to address food safety concerns. The outbreak effectively ended at the beginning of October, when the last case was reported in the U.S.