Romaine Lettuce E. Coli Outbreak (Mostly) Traced to Santa Maria, Calif. Farm
The romaine lettuce crisis is still not over, but there are signs that the deadly E. coli outbreak that made most of the nation’s lettuce inedible may at least be under control. Mostly. Sort of.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in cooperation with the the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other public health partners, have identified sediment in an agricultural water reservoir on a farm owned by Santa Maria, Calif.-based Adam Brothers Farming as one source of the E. coli contamination, the CDC announced on Friday.
Adam Bros. issued its own statement and recall for red and green leaf lettuces, as well as cauliflower, harvested between Nov. 27 and 30. But it’s important to note that none of the products being recalled have tested positive for contamination. Adam Bros. says the company is issuing the voluntary recall out of an “abundance of caution,” and a full list of produce being recalled can be found here.
The FDA and CDC continue to trace the origins of the outbreak, and it’s likely other sites will emerge in the agency’s ongoing traceback. For now, the CDC advises that consumers continue to avoid lettuce harvested from Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Barbara counties in California. If you can’t identify the origin of the lettuce, do not buy, eat, sell, or serve it.
E. coli Outbreak Update: Don’t eat romaine lettuce from Monterey, San Benito, or Santa Barbara counties in northern and central California. Check labels on products. If you can’t tell where it was grown, don’t eat it. https://t.co/NrFOIxG8hx pic.twitter.com/bQM4KMaPiw
— CDC (@CDCgov) December 13, 2018
Earlier this year, the CDC issued a warning that no one should eat romaine lettuce, and the crisis has compounded and multiplied since then.
Most recently, in November, romaine was recalled from consumer retail and restaurant distribution nationwide after it was linked to an outbreak of the E. coli virus. The outbreak has now hospitalized at least 23 people in the U.S., including two individuals who developed a type of kidney failure called hemolytic uremic syndrome. At least 59 people in 15 states have reported falling ill as well. No deaths have been reported as a result of the outbreak, according to the CDC on Friday.
