On September 14, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning against spinach consumption in the United States as a result of more than 100 cases of E. coli being reported across 20 states and linked to uncooked spinach. This is the latest of the health-related blows that periodically rock the food industry and have an extensive financial impact.

"There will be a considerable impact in the heart of the salad bowl [California]," Alex Avery of the Center for Global Food Issues says. The outbreak has been traced back to fresh spinach pre-packaged for salads from the Salinas Valley in California.

"It's too early in the game to quantify losses," Michael Briley, CPA and a Partner, Hayashi & Wayland Accounting and Consulting in Salinas, Calif. told AccountingWEB. "This is a small community. Many people work in or around the produce industry so it will have a significant impact and right now we're waiting for the dust to settle."

Unfortunately, when situations like this occur, companies frequently find themselves on the losing ends of lawsuits. For a closer look at how health scandals impact the food service and agriculture industries see: "Thinking About Food: The Price of Healthly Eating" Click Here.

The first research examining the linkage between types of finance activities used by women entrepreneurs during various stages in the business cycle indicates women entrepreneurs who take advantage of every financing opportunity and who finance creatively are more likely to reach the rapid growth stage in their businesses.

To attract external investors for future growth, entrepreneurs must first prove their business concepts, meet early stage milestones, and demonstrate the value of their businesses. To do this, entrepreneurs use 'bootstrapping' -- internal funding through creative ingenuity -- to cut costs, secure resources at no cost, and build knowledge and human resources to speed business development, according to "The Use of Bootstrapping by Women Entrepreneurs in Positioning for Growth", coauthored by Candida Brush and Patricia Greene, Babson College; Nancy M. Carter, Catalyst Inc.; Elizabeth J. Gatewood, Wake Forest University; and Myra M. Hart, Harvard Business School.

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