Do Not Eat Romaine Lettuce, Health Officials Warn

I have no doubt that the CDC, if it was motivated, could narrow the likely source(s) of the E-Coli contamination. But it doesn’t want to be accused of vegetable profiling.

I don’t know whether we are better informed or the corporate farm system that grows and distributes our food is worse than it once was. Either way, stories like this and the recent tales of salmonella in turkeys continues to push me to become more self sufficient in regards to my food sources. I have had chickens for nearly five years now, and rarely have had to purchase eggs. The difference between a truly fresh egg and even the most expensive, pastured hens’ eggs from the grocery store is amazing. I now have turkey eggs incubating. Hopefully all six will hatch and next year we will be eating a home-raised bird rather than an industrial-“farmed” creature that cannot live or reproduce outside of the confines of the system. Every year I have a garden. It’s not always successful, but what I do get before the groundhogs find it is so much better than even “local” produce. And I know it is pesticide free. This winter I will be growing micro-greens and pea sprouts in my dining room. Even if you can’t grow it yourself, know where your food comes from. When you do, you may change they way you eat. And in doing so, you may just prolong your life.

CDC: Don't eat romaine, you'll get sick. People: K. Also CDC: Vaccinate your kids, or they'll get sick. People: Hmm, not sure about this.

Don't eat anything, and you'll live forever. (Or maybe not).

Lettuce all say Grace over our Seizure salads.

What hath corporate agriculture wrought?

And Mexican grown Romaine?

Is irradiation of fruits and vegetables an economically viable option?

How many millions will be lost by Romaine farms because of the contamination of the food chain by one. I don't remember such epidemics in my childhood. Is there more contamination of foods today, or is this a decades old problem just made more apparent by the news media?

What? No tweets from Trump challenging the findings of the CDC (CDC, CIA what’s the difference). I guess for one of the few times in his presidency Trump has chosen to romaine silent.

If you know where your lettuce comes from, you don't have to stop buying romaine lettuce. Romaine lettuce is not the problem. The food distribution system is. Please - just know where your food comes from! Which means don't buy food from large corporations.

Yes, throw your romaine away. But then circle "romaine lettuce" on your receipt and take that receipt back to the store's customer service desk to get a refund. Hello! Might only be a couple of dollars - but money is money! (Wait until your next shopping trip and Thanksgiving rush is over to get a refund, though.) Stores are sadly used to recalls now, so with receipt (and to process faster, a shopper's card) it won't be an issue. I've only had to return recalled things 2-3 times, but grocery chains DO issue refunds (and no, you don't have to bring the infected item). FYI if you have generally a problem with any branded food item, just call the number on the container and they are usually VERY interested in hearing from you; They want to identify issues in specific batches/production dates as well. I had a container of flavored hummus from a famous brand which, when we bit into it, had large husk pieces of peppercorns, not the advertised pepper flakes. I called the number, gave them the barcodes, and about 8 days later I received in the mail a certificate/coupon to get two new free containers at the grocery store (different batch so had the advertised pepper flakes). Buying from farmer's markets is good but don't think it always shields you from salmonella and other bacteria nowadays: From 2017: Salmonella outbreak linked to Wisconsin farmers market peas https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2017/08/salmonella-outbreak-linked-to-wisconsin-farmers-market-peas/

The ban on romaine lettuce may just be the beginning. I hear the CDC is stalking the asparagus industry too.

IBM and Walmart have worked out a Blockchain tracing system which are the thing of the future. When more of the food industry installs such blockchain technology, we will see fewer "mysteries" involving the origins of contamination. Germany is even farther behind.

Just wondering. Perhaps it's getting more press these days and perhaps this is just an ongoing issue that goes back several years, or decades, but it seems--seems--like the incidence of these outbreaks of eColi and salmonella (recently linked with some turkey) are increasing. If this is correct, is it because of our changing climate, or is it because of relaxed standards, or regulations based on the current administration's penchant for deregulating anything and everything?

I picked up a beautiful bunch of organic, locally sourced Romaine yesterday for the Thanksgiving meal. It's been washed and dried and I had a small salad last night, as a test run. Still standing. The salad course will proceed as planned. Thirty three cases of illness and you tell EVERYONE to throw out all our Romaine, and yet so far this year there have been 50,961 shootings in America, resulting in 12,996 deaths, including infants and children. And not a word of caution or a scintilla of legislation about banning these lethal weapons. But lettuce, all hands on deck!

E. coli is a bacteria. Most strains are harmless. Some strains are infectious. These are usually called pathogenic strains. It's a misnomer to call a bacteria "virulent."

The National Center for Biotechnology, a branch of the National Institutes of Health, reports feed lot cattle are the reservoirs of the type of bacteria (E coli O157:H7) identified as the source of infection in this outbreak (NCBI/NIH 6/19/18). E coli are regularly excreted in feces and carried by irrigation or other run off to vegetable and fruit farms. In humans, they cause 63,000 cases of bloody diarrhea/year with children the most severely affected. I don't know how any produce, local or otherwise, can avoid contact with water either through irrigation or rain run off Fecal contamination could be washed away but this is not recommended for the current outbreak; we are just to toss out. Sounds pretty severe to me. And buying organics wouldn't help; what is more organic than feces and E. coli? Before we turned our livestock, poultry farms into factories I don't recall frequent outbreaks of fecal contamination in produce or being advised to decontaminate chopping boards on which meat, poultry were placed. I've driven by cattle lots around California and see the muck the stand in; I've seen pictures of mass produced chickens. Those pictures are the best arguments for a vegetable based diet. I don't care if I can cook off the fecal contamination; I don't care to eat that stuff even cooked. If our meat, poultry were produced and consumed in moderation, perhaps we can be omnivores again without fear.

.........shut down an entire industry, with no national dialogue; yet, when 58 people are killed in a mass shooting, the gun industry is held up as the prism from which all our other freedoms flow. Don't eat the romaine - sound advice. Why do we still swallow the gun?

This outbreak shows once more that many parts of the Federal government that provide essential services are both that (essential, not a nice-to-have) and often woefully underfunded. Food safety relies heavily on on-site FDA inspectors to spot problems early, and shut things down before people get sick or die. Unfortunately, the budgets for agencies such as the FDA, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the EPA have been frozen or slashed, and the low penalties for violations are becoming the costs of doing (bad) business, rather than the deterrent they are supposed to be. President Trump: please note that E. Coli and Salmonella don't discriminate who they make sick, and your cheeseburger can also be affected, especially if you like it medium-rare or bloody. That might help you just loose some weight in a rather unpleasant way, but it can also kill. So, please provide the funds, rules and regulations to secure a pathogen-free food supply for all of us - it's in your own interest, too. Thanks!

A simple way to be able to follow plant-food origins would be to insert a DNA tag into the genome of the vegetable or fruit. The tag should be unique to farms. The tag would be detectable by PCR, a simple process that shouldn’t take more than a day at most and then sent for sequencing- which typically takes a day or two to get done professionally unless. This would take a huge amount guesswork out of where a vegetable came from and would cost much less than having an investigation drag for a month. Sadly, this would count as a GMO, which would make a large portion of the population believe it’s the spawn of the devil. I guess it depends on what we want: a safer, more reliable food system, or waste due to fear about zombie plants. To be clear, I understand what people say about GMOs, I hear you. However, you have the wrong idea- we eat tons of bacterial, viral, plant, and animal DNA a day. That DNA was made by a slower process called evolution (at some point I do believe intelligent design was implemented, but evolution is how we are seeing the things we see today). Genetic manipulation is not the stuff of horror movies, that is pre 2010 anti-nerd hysteria brought on by generations of hating on the smart kids. Genetic manipulation is simply faster, and more targeted evolution.

On this Thanksgiving, lettuce be thankful for the CDC.

Unless and until our national policies regarding huge industrial food production -- produce and animal products -- are changed these major outbreaks of dangerous bacterial illnesses will continue. Smaller farms will equal smaller outbreaks nationally. Not only that, it would boost the health of our economy.

No need to panic, America. Lettuce romaine calm while this is sorted out.

"Investigators later traced that bacteria to a tainted drainage canal near a lettuce farm in Arizona." The ENVIRONMENT is more than global warming. The EPA has a broader mandate. Air and water pollution will get us first.

I think if a food item goes on a NATIONWIDE no-no list that we've crossed a line into a strange new territory. Warning bells? I don't know what's wrong but I'm sure Kudlow says tax cuts are in order and to de-regulate USDA inspection programs to get government off the backs of armers and if we do these things then all will be well in our GOP paradise. Bon appetit!

Trump: Maybe my romaine lettuce has E-coli, maybe it doesn't. Who knows? The world is a dangerous place! But romaine lettuce has always been very important to me. It helps keep me regular. I intend to have it remain as part of my diet.

The government can ban all romaine lettuce after 33 people get sick and yet nothing can be done about guns which kill thousands.

Once again lettuce gets a few people sick and we pull it off every shelf in America and guns used in (lost count) several mass shootings over the last few weeks face no restrictions.

It is inconceivable that the government would take this kind of action against any other industry. Millions of people ate romaine lettuce every day last week. 33 got sick. And the CDC's response is to tell everyone to stop eating it. Our ability to track these outbreaks has outpaced our ability to do anything to prevent it. We simply cannot expect farmers to bear the financial burden when invisible bacteria on food grown outdoors and eaten raw makes a tiny percentage of people sick. Insurance against these incidents is incredibly expensive and difficult to obtain. I grow a third of an acre of romaine lettuce on my farm and sell it all locally. And yet I now have to plow that field under because the CDC can't find the lettuce that is actually responsible, even though my lettuce cannot possibly be implicated. This is the second time in a year this has happened. I know one thing -- I certainly won't be growing romaine anymore. I'm not sure why anyone would. And if the CDC can't figure out a better way to manage these situations other than making farmers all over the country take the financial hit, you will start to see conspicuous absences in your produce department shelves.

Here we go again... This makes it really hard to eat healthy options like salads at almost any restaurant. Something is definitely wrong in the journey of lettuce from farm to fork. This needs fixing!

This article is profoundly depressing. First, because it shows how underfunded and understaffed the CDC is, to be unable to even pretend it has the resources to locate and contain the source of food contamination. Second, because it shows the incredible sweep of industrialized farming and food distribution, such that tainted lettuce makes it across an entire continent in a matter of days. Third, because it shows that some consumers lack even the foggiest idea of how food contamination spreads. (Good idea in Brennan's comment to disinfect.) The farmer's market shopper who contacted his local hydroponic grower to identify the variety of lettuce in a recent purchase is poised to throw away perfectly good food. What a waste. What a world.

Each and every time I see one of these outbreaks I wonder, "Why don't Americans just disinfect their fruits and vegetables like the rest of us?" 10 minutes in a light bleach bath and problem solved. The practice is so prevalent that in two countries I've lived in instructions were included on the bottles. I understand it likely wouldn't work for the average American home -- some would think 'more is better' -- but it seems possible on an industrial scale. They are using some form of cleaning to remove pesticides/slugs/dirt from the lettuce/spinach/etc.; why not add disinfectant to the mix?

What about locally grown romaine? Hit up your farmers’ markets.