SAN FRANCISCO – The FBI searched two produce companies Wednesday for evidence of a crime in the nationwide E. coli outbreak that killed one person and sickened at least 191 others.
Agents from the FBI and the Food and Drug Administration used warrants to search a Natural Selection Foods LLC plant in San Juan Bautista and a Growers Express plant in Salinas to determine whether they followed food safety procedures.
Federal health officials said early in their investigation that deliberate contamination was not suspected.
“We are investigating allegations that certain spinach growers and distributors may not have taken all necessary or appropriate steps to ensure that their spinach was safe before they were placed into interstate commerce,” U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan said in a statement.
The searches were the first indication that authorities suspect a crime may have been committed in the outbreak that killed a Wisconsin woman, sickened people in 26 states and prompted the FDA to issue a two-week consumer warning on fresh spinach.
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