UVALDE Recent concerns about E. coli will not affect Wintergarden producers’ plans for planting spinach in upcoming weeks, said a Texas Cooperative Extension expert.
Almost all the spinach produced in Texas comes from the Wintergarden area, a nine-county region in the southwestern part of the state, said Larry Stein, Extension horticulturist at the Texas A&M University System Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Uvalde.
“Wintergarden growers are confident about their ability to produce a safe, quality spinach product,” he said. “To my knowledge, nobody is going to stop planting spinach due to the E. coli issue. They don’t expect it to be a problem.”
Spinach planting will begin in mid-October, Stein said.
Last week, more than 20 growers, processors, shippers, agricultural experts and others with a stake in the Texas spinach industry met in Uvalde to discuss concerns about E. coli and spinach safety.
“We had a successful meeting,” said Ed Ritchie, chairman of the Wintergarden Spinach Producers Board. “We discussed the possible effect of the E. coli issue on consumer demand for our spinach, as well as what we are now doing to ensure product safety and what more we can do in the future.”
Spinach has been grown safely in the area for more than 80 years, Ritchie said.
“Over that time, we have always produced a safe and nutritious product,” he said. “The Texas spinach industry and the Wintergarden Spinach Producers Board are both strongly committed to continuing that tradition of consumer safety and producing an excellent quality product.”
State Rep. Tracy King, who represents several counties in the Wintergarden area, attended the meeting.
“During the whole E.coli situation, there was never a question about the quality of Texas spinach,” King said. “The growers here have always taken advantage of all safeguards to ensure spinach from this region is absolutely safe for human consumption.”
The recent incident with E. coli found in California spinach should not have any negative effect on the demand for Texas spinach, he added.
About 1,200 to 1,500 acres in the Wintergarden area are currently used for fresh-market spinach production, said Kenneth White, Extension agent for agriculture and natural resources in Uvalde County.
“But producers are looking into increasing fresh-market spinach production in the future to capture the increasing market demand from health-conscious consumers,” he said.
To further ensure product safety, the three major spinach shippers in the region have switched to mechanical harvesting within the past three years, White said.
“They use wide-bed harvesters and harvest only the leaf of the spinach plant,” he said. “That means there’s even less chance of contamination from human contact or from the soil than there was when they primarily used human labor for harvesting.”
Some growers, however, are still concerned about whether the E. coli issue will have a negative impact on consumer attitudes about spinach, White said.
“To address the consumer perspective, the Texas spinach industry is working to make the public aware that there’s never been a problem with Texas spinach and that there are measures in place to ensure the cleanest and safest product possible,” he said.
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