Spinach Warnings Lead to Unprecedented Rise in Spinach Blogging

Posted on September 18, 2006

Spinach blogging soared over the weekend thanks to the warnings from the FDA that fresh spinach products contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 has been making people sick. One person has died and over a hundred people have fallen ill.

Some people sickened by the E. coli have developed a a form of kidney failure called HUS. Spinach blog posts soared over the weekend with about 2,000 posts on Sunday according to Technorati. The graph on the right shows the pattern of spinach-related blog posts over the past 360 days. Normally the number of spinach blog posts ranges from about 200 to 400 daily according to Technorati -- who knew there were that many every day? But you can see the big spike in posts related to the recent spinach scare on the chart.

For the latest official information from the FDA, be sure to check the FDA alerts section.

Here are some highlights about spinach and the E. coli outbreak from bloggers covering the recall.

• Engadget notes that futuristic devices like the nanotech napkin may one day help people identify dangerous bacteria.
• Veggin Out says, "Some grocery stores are pulling spinach off their shelves, but others probably aren't aware of this FDA alert, so you might want to mention it to the produce manager if you're at the store."
• A post from The Houstonist discusses a truck driver who was allegedly dumping his truck's load of fresh bagged spinach into the San Bernard River. That seems a bit extreme.
• The Daily Kos is blogging about connections to factory farm manure.
• Cookin' in the 'Cuse says, "The thing about this food safety scare is that the media don't seem to be raising the issue of the vulnerability to our food supply when it is so largely centralized. Despite the nice photos on websites depicting family farms, the majority of conventional and organic bagged spinach sold in this country is produced in California and Mexico--which is pretty odd when you think of how well spinach does when there is a little chill in the air."
  Just be sure and wait until the E. coli outbreak is declared officially over or you might not be feeling quite like Popeye after you eats u spinach. It probably won't be very easy to find fresh spinach in stores for a while anyway.

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