Is It Safe To Eat Romaine Lettuce From Salinas Again? CDC Says E. coli Scare “Appears To Be Over”

By Kelly Tyko, USA TodayJan 15, 2020

After nearly three months, the romaine lettuce outbreak “appears to be over,” federal health officials announced Wednesday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in an updated food safety report that it is “no longer advising that people avoid romaine lettuce from the Salinas Valley growing region in California.”

Since Nov. 22, the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration have told consumers to avoid the lettuce from California as they investigated multistate E. coli outbreaks.

A total of 167 people from 27 states were infected with the outbreak strain of E. coli O157:H7, the CDC said Wednesday.

A total of 85 hospitalizations were reported, and 15 people developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a type of kidney failure. No deaths were reported, the CDC said.

The ages of those who fell ill ranged from infancy to 89 years old, with a median age of 27. Several people in Canada also may have been affected.

The CDC was able to interview 113 people who fell ill, with 83 percent of them saying they’d eaten romaine lettuce, much higher than a survey of healthy adults.

Frank Yiannas, FDA deputy commissioner for food policy and response, said in a statement that the investigation is ongoing and they are “doing everything possible to find the source or sources of contamination.”

“The investigation into how this contamination occurred is important, so romaine growers can implement measures that will prevent future contamination and illnesses,” Yiannas said.

This outbreak was caused by the same strain of “Shiga toxin-producing” E. coli that caused outbreaks linked to leafy greens in 2017 and to romaine lettuce in 2018, the CDC said. The Shiga toxin can cause severe stomach cramps, diarrhea that is often bloody and vomiting. Severe dehydration can result.

Contributing: Joe Szydlowski, Salinas Californian