No, seriously:

An outbreak of E. coli in eight states has left at least one person dead and 50 others sick, federal health officials said Thursday in warning consumers nationwide not to eat bagged fresh spinach.

The death occurred in Wisconsin, where 20 others were also sickened, said Dr. David Acheson of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. The outbreak has sickened others — eight of them seriously — in Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, New Mexico, Oregon and Utah.

FDA officials do not know the source of the outbreak other than it appears to be linked to bagged spinach. “We’re advising people not to eat it,” Acheson said.

[…]

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Wisconsin health officials alerted the FDA about the outbreak Wednesday. Preliminary analysis suggests the same bug is responsible for the outbreak in all eight states.

The warning applied to consumers nationwide because of uncertainty over the origin of the tainted spinach and how widely it was distributed.

Health officials do not know of any link to a specific growing region, grower, brand or supplier, Acheson said.

He said reports of infections have been growing.

“It’s increasing by the day,” Acheson said. “We may be at the peak, we may not be.”

Thus far only spinach appears to be infected, but this is an excellent reminder about why you should thoroughly wash all fresh vegetables before consuming them.

In the meantime, step away from the spinach.  And Popeye’s gonna be pissed…