E Coli in Spinach?

Question

I heard on the radio this morning not to buy bagged spinach, as there are reports of e-coli infections.

About a week ago, I was cooking a bag of spinach I had, and if stunk of amonia. I have googled this, but cannot find any answers. Could this smell have any thing to do with E-Coli? Or does spinach smells like amonia when it goes bad?

I have never had this happend before, but it smells so strong it was as if I had poured a whole bottle of amonia in the pot

THANKS!

I think some of you are confused by my question, so I will elaborate. its Bagged Fresh Spinach, not frozen spinach. And of Course I didnt eat it!

I just have never encountered smelly spinach before, and I am trying to find out why it would smell like amonia when cooked...

Answer 1

you didnt eat it did you????????? i dont know if that is what it could be about, but that is really discusting.

Answer 2

Cooking the spinach will kill any E. coli on the spinach. E. coli is a relatively weak bacteria when it comes to heat. A problem may arise from cross contamination, ie handling the spinach before cooking then handling other food thereby transfering the E. coli to other food. Also, if there was any E. coli on the spinach, it wouldn't smell like ammonia. Regardless, you should still throw out the spinach. Better safe than sorry.

Also, in response to one of the answers, E. coli is NOT a virus, it is a bacteria. It may seem like a trivial thing, but it makes a huge difference in terms of how it affects your body, how your body responds, treatsments for E. coli infection (antibiotics used to treat bacterial infections, useless for viral infections).

Answer 3

the e.coli virus only lives in your bowel there fore this is why strict personal hygiene should be adhered to after you have used the toilet cos you can pass the germ on via your hands and lasdies should always wipe thier bottoms from the front to the back not the other way round as this is what causes lots of water infections in ladies its the e.coli germ getting into the front as for the spinach it was probably where it was frozen that caused it to smell of amonia if there was a freezer leak this will cause amonia to leak from the freezer and it would taint any product i know this i worked in a frozen food factory for 23 years and it happened many times you should have written to the company and demanded a refund and you could still do this even though you threw it away

Answer 4

Spinach is okay as long as it isn't ORGANICALLY grown. Organic farmers use manure from feedlot cattle. This manure contains the dangerous strain of E. coli that causes the food poisoning. I would avoid all other organically grown vegetables until the industry cleans up its act. The organic industry is poorly regulated unlike the conventional farming industry.

BTW Urine has an ammonia smell, E. coli is what gives your faeces that distinctive odour. However the small amounts on your spinach which cause the food poisoning can not be detected by smell.

Answer 5

If you cook spinach, you won't get e-coli. Ammonia smell is not indicative of e.coli. It's more likely coming from your water, not the spinach. It's very easy to tell fresh spinach from that which is going bad (wilty appearance). Wilting spinach smells like any other vegetable going bad.

Just FYI for all you paranoids out there who are tossing your bagged spinach, here is a great recipe: sautee pine nuts and chopped or minced garlic in olive oil for about 3 minutes until nuts start to turn brown. Add spinach and continue sauteeing for about 2-3 minutes, until spinach looks soft/wilty. Then enjoy and don't worry about e.coli.

Answer 6

I don't know why your spinach smelled like ammonia, but it definitely wasn't because of E. Coli. E. Coli has no smell, and by cooking the spinach you would have killed it all anyhow. It must have been contaminated with something else. Did it look fresh, or was it withered?

Answer 7

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Answer 8

I've never noticed an ammonia smell from fresh spinach. I hope you threw it out. I don't know if that smell could have anything to do with e-coli, it was probably just old. I'm missing my spinach salads. I hope they find the source of this contamination. Probably crappy sanitation procedures.

Answer 9

I did hear about the bag spinach being infected, to answer your question if you smell a foul odor in any food once open I suggest you dispose of it or return it to the store for a refund. Don't take a chance.

Answer 10

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Answer 11

When spinach breaks down it does get an ammonia smell, a number of veggies can do this, In the case of spinach, the ammonia is produced as a consequence of protein catabolism: the accumulation of ammonia is responsible of leaf dark deterioration. So it doesn t smell or taste good and shouldn t be eaten but as far as I know isn t considered harmful in small doses.