Romaine lettuce is unsafe to eat in any form, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday in a food safety alert in response to a new outbreak of illnesses caused by a particularly dangerous type of E. coli bacteria.
CDC told consumers to throw away any romaine lettuce they may already have purchased. Restaurants should not serve it, stores should not sell it, and people should not buy it, no matter where or when the lettuce was grown. It doesn’t matter if it is chopped, whole head or part of a mix.
Thirty-two people have been sickened and 13 hospitalized due to contamination food likely linked to romaine lettuce, the FDA said.
No produce has been recalled as a result of this new 11-state outbreak.
“Currently, the FDA does not have enough traceback information to identify the source of the contamination that would allow us to request a targeted recall from specific suppliers,” it said.
The average period of time between when someone gets sick and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is informed is 20 days, according to the FDA. The most recent case was Oct. 31.
The symptoms of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli infections include severe stomach cramps and bloody diarrhea and most people recover in five to seven days, the FDA said. Most vulnerable children younger than 5 years old, people over age 65 and individuals with weakened immune systems. Between 5- and 10 percent develop a potentially life-threatening type of kidney failure called hemolytic uremic syndrome.
lettuce not be overly worried. In time the CDC will find and eliminate the cause of the contamination. Meanwhile we’ll have to be romaine around the vegetables looking for a substitute to eat
The CDC says don’t eat romaine lettuce? They also say vaccinate. If you don’t trust the CDC when it comes to vaccination, I assume you’ll not trust this announcement and will keep eating romaine. Right?
And no workers are *forced* to relieve themselves in the fields. They do it because they’re primitive.
E coli is normal flora in the gut and these outbreaks are actually common. It often has been seen with migrant worker being forced to relieve themselvs in the fields on the lettuce which we then eat transfering what is normal in the body outside the body and causing disease. Yes, cheap labor bring in bad working conditions and abuse and we all get sick. This why unions were formed due to this behavior.
Whal should we use for Morror on Pesach