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Sandra Yi ReportingA bag of spinach bought here in Utah in August has tested positive for E. coli. It's the second bag in the country to test positive for the strain of E. coli associated with the national outbreak.
Meantime, the number of sick people linked to bad spinach keeps going up. In Utah, 17 people have gotten sick from E. coli. Now a bag of spinach one of them bought has tested positive for the bacteria.
Bad spinach is now being blamed for 171 illnesses in 25 states. So far, more than half of the sick people have been hospitalized, including a Wisconsin woman who died.
The death of 2-year old Kyle Allgood of Idaho may also be related, although preliminary test results were inconclusive.
Jeff Allgood/ Kyle's Father: "He ate spinach, what we thought was kind of bad spinach, and so we didn't use it anymore after that."
Health investigators tested a bag of Dole baby spinach bought by a Salt Lake County resident on August 21st.
Dr. Robert Rolfs/ Utah Dept. of Health: "This spinach was collected the third week in August and had an expiration date of August 30th. This is spinach that was covered by the national recall. So this doesn't indicate any ongoing danger to Utahns."
The spinach was collected for testing September 15th. "It was not in real good shape," Rolfs said. Today, test results confirm it contained the strain of E. coli associated with the national outbreak.
Robert Rolfs: "It's the second instance of finding it in the spinach."
A package of the same brand taken from a victim's refrigerator in New Mexico also tested positive for E. coli.
So far, state and federal investigators have traced the contaminated spinach back to Monterey, San Benito and Santa Clara counties, in California. The bags bought in Utah and New Mexico may help them get to the source.
Robert Rolfs: "It really helps them pin down how this happened. They can look at the specific field or fields this may have come from, do testing there, hopefully help to find out how this happened so we can keep it from happening again."
So the investigation continues. But the FDA says it is now safe for people to eat raw spinach, as long as it didn't come from California.
(The Associated Press contributed to this story)
