False alarm costs county business dearly
July 27, 2011
A local growing business with a hard-earned reputation for quality has all but died due to a scare of salmonella issued by Panhandle Health and the Food and Drug Administration in late June. It turns out that it was a false alarm; the business's product have been proven good and healthy and a-okay. But the trust the business has lost as a result of the scare has cost nine people their jobs and the reputation of its owners, Fred and Nadine Scharf, who wonder if they can hang on.

For more than 23 years, Fred and Nadine Scharf quietly built a Boundary County business, Evergreen Produce, that gained a regional reputation for quality. Their product sought after and enjoyed by customers at grocery stores here and delivered fresh daily, more than 100 miles away. Early this year, they invested in a new addition to meet the demand, expecting another great growing season.

Sprouts aren't what most people think of when it comes to farming ... and sprouts don't weigh very much. But Fred and Nadine built an agri-business from the ground up. According to a piece aired tonight on KHQ, they were delivering 6,000 pounds of the delicacies a week to markets in Spokane, Fairchild Air Force Base and all points between.

Fred and Nadine's toil and hope came crashing in late June, when a salmonella scare made 19 people, all in the area Evergreen Produce sprouts are sold, ill. Nobody died, but tummy rumbles were reported.

Evergreen Produce was named as a "possible" source, and stern warnings issued to all media for customers to not buy their product.

While Evergreen Produce hasn't been doing much profitable business lately, it has been a busy place, scoured from top to bottom for over a month in an attempt to find out where or how their product was contaminated.

The result? It wasn't. False alarm! All is well, you guys are good and we can go home now. kthksbye.

We don't know the true source of the outbreak that caused a few bellyaches, as in clearing Evergreen Produce, they haven't revealed where the source arose or even if they have another suspect.

But we do now know that Evergreen Produce products aren't to blame -- we can buy them with all confidence!

Provided, of course, we can find a place that sells them.

(Editor's note: I recognize that this appears to be more an editorial than a news report, but I am partially responsible, as a publisher, for all but destroying a very good Boundary County business by the fact that I published. I made no attempt to contact Evergreen Produce before I ran that first piece, http://www.newsbf.com/news/1106/26sprouts.html. For that I am remiss. Understandably, Fred and Nadine weren't answering their telephone this evening. As a journalist, I stand by my rush to publish in June ... lives may have been at stake and the public needed to know. As a neighbor, I am ashamed that I didn't stand up for them and offer the chance to defend a local business and people I know and respect. MW)

For more than 23 years, Fred and Nadine Scharf quietly built a Boundary County business, Evergreen Produce, that gained a regional reputation for quality. Their product sought after and enjoyed by customers at grocery stores here and and, delivered fresh daily, more than 100 miles away. Early this year, they invested in a new addition to meet the demand, expecting another great growing season.

Sprouts aren't what most people think of when it comes to farming ... and sprouts don't weigh very much. But Fred and Nadine built an agri-business from the ground up. According to a piece aired tonight on KHQ, they were delivering 6,000 pounds of the delicacies a week to markets in Spokane, Fairchild Air Force Base and all points between.

Fred and Nadine's toil and hope came crashing in late June, when a salmonella scare made 19 people, all in the area Evergreen Produce sprouts are sold, ill. Nobody died, but tummy rumbles were reported.

Evergreen Produce was named as a "possible" source, and stern warnings issued to all media for customers to not buy their product.

While Evergreen Produce hasn't been doing much profitable business lately, it has been a busy place, scoured from top to bottom for over a month in an attempt to find out where or how their product was contaminated.

The result? It wasn't. False alarm! All is well, you guys are good and we can go home now. kthksbye.

We don't know the true source of the outbreak that caused a few bellyaches, as in clearing Evergreen Produce, they haven't revealed where the source arose or even if they have another suspect.

But we do now know that Evergreen Produce products aren't to blame -- we can buy them with all confidence!

Provided, of course, we can find a place that sells them.

(Editor's note: I recognize that this appears to be more an editorial than a news report, but I am partially responsible, as a publisher, for all but destroying a very good Boundary County business by the fact that I published. I made no attempt to contact Evergreen Produce before I ran that first piece, http://www.newsbf.com/news/1106/26sprouts.html. For that I am remiss. Understandably, Fred and Nadine weren't answering their telephone this evening. As a journalist, I stand by my rush to publish in June ... lives may have been at stake and the public needed to know. As a neighbor, I am ashamed that I didn't stand up for and offer them the chance to defend a local business and people I know and respect. MW)