March 29, 2024
CDC urges Americans to stop eating romaine lettuce after E. coli outbreak
ATLANTA, GA--Americans should stop eating romaine lettuce immediately because of an outbreak of E. coli that has sickened more than 30 people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC issued the broad alert on Tuesday that the strain of E. coli has been reported across 11 states starting on Oct. 2. So far, 13 people have been hospitalized, but no one has died.

The agency is calling for all consumers to throw out any type of romaine lettuce, even if some people didn't get sick after eating it.

This advice extends to all types of romaine such as whole heads of lettuce to bags of pre-cut lettuce.

“If you do not know if the lettuce is romaine or whether a salad mix contains romaine, do not eat it, and throw it away,” CDC said.

CDC is also telling restaurants and retailers not to sell any more romaine lettuce until more is learned about the outbreak.

The CDC added that Canada has also identified 18 infected people with the same type of E. coli.

The outbreak was reported in California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

California has the most cases with 10 and Michigan is in second with seven cases. Every other state has either a single or handful of cases, according to the CDC.

This is the second time this year that the CDC has warned people not to eat any romaine lettuce. The CDC warned in spring about romaine lettuce after a batch from the Yuma, Ariz., region was contaminated with E. coli in an outbreak that killed five people.

There is no genetic link between the current outbreak of E. coli and the outbreak earlier this spring, according to the Food and Drug Administration. However, the FDA said the strains of E. coli in this latest outbreak are similar to strains of another E. coli outbreak that occurred in the U.S. and Canada in fall 2017.

“The FDA is conducting a traceback investigation to determine the source of the romaine lettuce eaten by people who became sick,” the agency said in reference to the latest outbreak. “Additionally, FDA and states are conducting laboratory analysis of romaine lettuce samples potentially linked to the current outbreak.” (Source: The Washington Examiner)
Story Date: November 21, 2018
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