Agents from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and FBI have begun searching for evidence as part of a probe, sanctioned by the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, which makes the production or sale of "adulterated foods" a crime.
U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan explains, "We are investigating allegations that certain spinach growers and distributors may not have taken all necessary or appropriate steps to ensure that their spinach was safe before they were placed into interstate commerce."
Andy Weisbecker, a Seattle lawyer whose firm is representing dozens of people who got sick eating spinach in the last two months, tells CBS, "If someone out there is pumping out hundreds of pounds of pork with trichinosis in it, you don't have to know you are doing that to be found potentially criminally negligent."
FBI spokesman Joe Schadler admits, "There is no indication there was any tampering or willful contamination or anything like that."
However, according to CBS, to be convicted under the act, companies do not need to have known their products were contaminated, merely negligent in their duties to prevent tainted foods from entering the market.
