CDC Issues E Coli Warning For All Romaine Lettuce

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today expanded an already existing health warning about contaminated lettuce and advised people to “throw out” all Romaine lettuce after an outbreak had caused dozens to be hospitalized across several states.

The CDC statement read: "Unless the source of the product is known, consumers anywhere in the United States who have any store-bought romaine lettuce at home should not eat it and should throw it away, even if some of it was eaten and no one has gotten sick. If you do not know if the lettuce is romaine, do not eat it and throw it away."

The outbreak could be traced back to lettuce heads coming from Yuma, Arizona (some 185 miles southwest of Phoenix) and has spread as far as Alaska where people in a correctional facility reported they were feeling ill after eating the said product.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">E. coli Outbreak Update: Based on new data, CDC advises throwing away whole heads of romaine and hearts of romaine, plus chopped romaine and salad mixes, from Yuma, Arizona growing region. <a href="https://t.co/WTdyf3IWsY">https://t.co/WTdyf3IWsY</a> <a href="https://t.co/F1RHsL3rt4">pic.twitter.com/F1RHsL3rt4</a></p>&mdash; CDC (@CDCgov) <a href="https://twitter.com/CDCgov/status/987435954565734400?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 20, 2018</a></blockquote>

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So far, the E coli outbreak infected 53 people in 16 states. Of those, some 31 have been hospitalized for several days now. Five of those people have suffered kidney failure although so far no deaths have been reported.

The CDC warning told restaurants and retailers in the US to stop serving and selling any romaine lettuce coming from Yuma and to speak to their suppliers about upcoming deliveries of the leafy green.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The CDC is not playing around: <br><br>&quot;Consumers anywhere in the United States who have store-bought chopped romaine lettuce at home, including salads and salad mixes containing chopped romaine lettuce, should not eat it and should throw it away&quot;<a href="https://t.co/Hc4NNMaPUn">https://t.co/Hc4NNMaPUn</a></p>&mdash; BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/BuzzFeedNews/status/987436226847227904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 20, 2018</a></blockquote>

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A 66-year-old woman from New Jersey filed a lawsuit against the Panera Bread restaurant chain after she got sick from E Coli after eating there. She ended up in the emergency room of her local hospital with a life-threatening disease.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Romaine Lettuce: Don&#39;t Eat It! <a href="https://t.co/ZBT92qUmUx">https://t.co/ZBT92qUmUx</a></p>&mdash; NPR (@NPR) <a href="https://twitter.com/NPR/status/987457154637430784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 20, 2018</a></blockquote>

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Her lawyer, Mr Bill Marler said he expected the number of cases to steadily increase: “This stuff went everywhere. It’s conceivable that we may be seeing the beginnings of a fairly significant outbreak. They’ve linked it to Yuma, because that’s where romaine this time of year is grown.”

Source:

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/04/19/604036532/e-coli-outbreak-linked-to-romaine-lettuce-spreads-to-16-states