Australians reassured that spinach in supermarkets is safe as sales drop 30% following poisonings

Australians are reassured that spinach is safe to eat, after sales fell 30% this week amid fears the weed mixed with some of the leafy greens have poisoned around 200 people.

Shoppers leave bags of spinach on supermarket shelves during the busiest time of year after the recalled Riviera Farms products last week amid contamination alert.

On Wednesday, Riviera Farms and Victorian Health said they found spruce - a type nightshade - in some of the farm's spinach products, which can cause hallucinations, delusions, vomiting and respiratory problems.

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Bags of spinach have been recalled after the alarm was raised last Friday.

Agriculture Victoria has been contacted for comment .

< p class="dcr-h26idz">Michael Coote, chief executive of vegetable industry body Ausveg, said many growers had seen a 30% drop in sales.< /p>

“It varies depending on the company, who their main customers are, but there is a noticeable drop in orders,” Coote said.

"This is worrying given that the lead up to Christmas, the holiday season is the busiest week of the year, even a 10% or 20% drop in sales can be significant."

Although the bay sse sales hits hard some "cautiously optimistic" it wouldn't last long.

"Given the speed with which this incident was handled, food safety authorities and retailers handling the recall and removing it from shelves, and confirmation that this was a single source, and not a significant issue regarding spinach production nationwide, we [hope we ] won. I don't see the extended drop, but it's still early days,” Coote said.

He said Riviera Farms, which temporarily lost its certification for grow spinach, would have to go through a process with the health department to make sure the food they were producing was safe.

"There will be rectifications that 'they will have to undertake to prove that they are on top of this issue, to ensure that any product that comes off the farm is safe and t follows required food safety processes,” Coote said.

He said any spinach t product on supermarket shelves was now safe to eat.

Wednesday, Riviera Farms said it was conducting its own independent audit of the farm, which it hoped would lead to "the resumption of production".

"By the time Riviera Farms baby spinach will be reintroduced to the market, it will be Australia's safest and most audited spinach supply," a farm spokesperson said. .

"As a company that has been providing quality products without incident since the 1880s, we are confident that we can quickly restore supply and thank our customers for their strong support.

"Riviera Farms also thanks NSW Health, Victorian Health and Food Standards Australia and New Zealand for their expert advice at a difficult time for our business and staff ."

Food Standards Australia New Zealand, which is responsible for developing the food safety code but does not maintain it pointed out that type of co Contamination was "little frequent".

"FSANZ is working with state and territory food, health and agriculture authorities to develop guidance documents to help industry prevent future incidents "said a spokesperson. .