CDC says romaine lettuce is tainted

Consumers are urged to throw out all products

Just before Thanksgiving, federal health authorities are warning consumers that romaine lettuce is unsafe and to throw it out.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the lettuce is responsible for a new E. coli outbreak that has sickened 32 people in 11 states.

No cases have been reported in Arizona.

The source of the outbreak is unknown. Authorities say no type of romaine lettuce is OK to eat. That includes whole heads, hearts, bags and boxes of precut lettuce and salad mixes. Baby romaine, spring mixes and Caesar salads also are considered dangerous.

That means a lot of salad plates could go unused Thursday.

The advisory is a hammer blow to

Yuma farmers, who are beginning their first harvest of romaine lettuce since an E. coli outbreak in April killed five people and sickened 210 others. The pathogen was sourced to irrigation canals in Yuma that fed multiple farms.

The CDC says no common grower, supplier, distributor or brand of romaine lettuce has been identified in the latest outbreak. But the blanket warning means new crops can’t be distributed.

“This is going to have a profound impact,” said John Boelts, vice president of the Arizona Farm Bureau and a Yuma lettuce grower. “The outbreak appears to have nothing to do with the Arizona growing region.”

But wherever you live in North America, if you are eating a salad from November through March, chances are the lettuce comes from the Yuma area.

Yuma is the nation’s largest supplier of winter greens — lettuce, cabbage, spinach, kale, spring mix and more.

Boelts said about half of the growing acreage in Yuma is reserved for romaine lettuce.

“Out of the lettuce segment of the leafy greens, romaine is about half,” he said. “Romaine has surpassed iceberg and other types of lettuce.”

The first illness was reported on Oct. 8, about a month before harvesting began in the Yuma region, which includes California’s Imperial Valley.

From April through October, the bulk of romaine lettuce comes from central California farms. A much smaller supply comes from Florida and Mexico.

Bill Marler, a nationally recognized food-safety lawyer in Seattle, said the DNA fingerprint of the E. coli strain could provide clues to the outbreak’s source.

The CDC on Tuesday reported that people in the latest outbreak were infected by E. coli bacteria with the same DNA fingerprint as a strain that sickened people in 2017. That strain also was linked to leafy greens sold in the U.S. and Canada. Officials never were able to identify the source.

“I can’t think of an E. coli outbreak separated by a year with the same DNA fingerprint,” Marler said. “It had to come from the same region, the same state. I’ll bet you it came from within a hundred yards of the last one.” He called the finding critical. “There has got to be some connection between the two outbreaks,” Marler said.

There is no way to wash or clean the lettuce to guarantee it is safe for consumption, authorities said.

Restaurants and grocers have been advised not to serve or sell any romaine lettuce, including salads and salad mixes containing romaine.

If you have romaine lettuce in your refrigerator, federal officials say get rid of it, even if you have already eaten some without incident.

E. coli is the shortened name of a bacteria called Escherichia coli that is found in the environment, foods and intestines of people and animals. It can cause infections, pneumonia and kidney failure. Some strains of E. coli aren’t dangerous, but others can be fatal.

It takes an average of three to four days to get sick after eating food infected with E. coli, but it can take up to eight days. Most people experience diarrhea, severe stomach cramps and vomiting, and recover within one week.

Children younger than 5, older adults and people with weakened immune systems are more likely to develop hemolytic uremic syndrome, a condition that can lead to kidney failure.

“Symptoms of HUS can include fever, abdominal pain, pale skin tone, fatigue and irritability, small, unexplained bruises or bleeding from the nose and mouth, and decreased urination,” according to the CDC.

The outbreak in April left 27 people with kidney failure.

Clearing the market of all romaine lettuce is the fastest way to ensure the outbreak is contained, leading industry trade groups said Tuesday.

“We are urging full compliance with the government’s request for a voluntary withdrawal of all romaine,” officials with the Arizona and California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement said in a joint statement.

“We believe a withdrawal of romaine lettuce is the fastest way to clear up the supply chain of any romaine that could be responsible for illnesses and to make a hard, convincing and clean break from harvesting and shipping romaine lettuce until this outbreak is declared over or the source of the implicated produce can be identified,” marketing officials said.

They said they are determined to find a cause of the outbreaks and stop them.

“No one wants to get to the bottom of how these outbreaks are occurring faster than the producers of leafy greens,” officials said in the statement.