SALINAS, Calif., Oct. 23 (UPI) -- Officials at packaged salad company Fresh Express of Salinas, Calif., have said the company takes special precautions to prevent E. coli contamination.
Jim Lugg, head of food safety at the company, said he requires lettuce and spinach fields to be kept several hundred feet from cattle pastures to prevent E. coli found in manure from contaminating the greens, USA Today reported Monday.
Fresh Express, which produces 40 percent of the bagged salads sold in U.S. supermarkets, did not recall any products in connection with the recent E. coli outbreak, but sales remained Monday 15 percent to 20 percent below normal levels.
"From what I've seen, Fresh Express leads the pack," in food safety, Michael Doyle, director of the University of Georgia Center for Food Safety, told USA Today. However, Doyle, who has long advocated tougher regulations on produce, said he does not eat packaged salads because of the risk of infection.
