Feds: No criminal charges

The Associated Press reports here that no criminal charges will be filed related to last year's nationwide E. coli outbreak, according to the U.S. Attorney in San Francisco.

From the story published in The Salinas Californian:

Following the outbreak, which led to the deaths of three people and sickened about 200 others, FBI agents raided two produce processing plants and several farms for evidence of environmental and food-safety violations. The investigation did not find that growers or processors had deliberately skirted the law or were negligent in preventing tainted foods from entering the marketplace, said U.S. Attorney Scott Schools.
Authorities had searched plants in October run by Growers Express LLC in Salinas and Natural Selection Foods LLC in San Juan Bautista, as well as farms in Santa Clara, Monterey and San Benito counties.FBI and FDA agents spent 11 hours searching both companies' facilities, sifting through records for evidence of a paper trail indicating spinach handlers skirted proper food-handling procedures.Federal officials warned consumers not to eat bagged or bunched spinach for two weeks last September after dozens of people in 26 states fell ill after eating leafy greens packaged by Natural Selection Foods and sold under 34 brand names.

TK: This is certainly good news, though it doesn't mean all clouds are gone and only blue skies remain. Seattle lawyer Bill Marler writes in his blog here that the law firm has "we have resolved the claims of 29 individuals and families who became ill or died as a result of eating contaminated spinach." Marler doesn't say how many are pending.