The romaine-lettuce E. coli outbreak has been pinned on at least one farm in California with infecte

[Eugene]

Source: Business Insider

The romaine-lettuce E. coli outbreak has been pinned on at least one farm in California with infected reservoir water

Bill Bostock 5h

• Romaine lettuce infected with the E. coli bacteria strain that sickened people across 15 US states has been traced to at least one farm in California.
• Sediment in a water reservoir at Adam Bros. Farms in Santa Barbara County tested positive for the strain, the Food and Drug Administration announced on Thursday.
• Though the agency named only one farm, it said the E. coli bacteria strain was likely more widespread.
Investigators said they identified two other California counties, Monterey and San Benito, as possibly linked to the outbreak.
• It is the second E. coli outbreak tied to romaine lettuce this year, but officials have said they are not related. The first, earlier this year, sickened more than 200 people and killed five.

The romaine-lettuce E. coli outbreak that sickened at least 59 people across 15 states has been pinned on at least one farm in California where sediment in a water reservoir was found to have the strain of the bacteria.

The US Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday that it had traced the outbreak, announced on November 20, to at least one location: Adam Bros. Farms in Santa Barbara County.

It said infected lettuce may have also come from nearby Monterey and San Benito counties and that "additional romaine lettuce shipped from other farms could also likely be implicated in the outbreak."

-snip-

Read more: https://www.businessinsider.com/romaine-lettuce-ecoli-outbreak-traced-to-infected-ca-farm-reservoir-2018-12

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Source: U.S. Food & Drug Administration

Statement from FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D. and FDA Deputy Commissioner Frank Yiannas on new findings and updated consumer recommendations related to the romaine lettuce E. coli O157:H7 outbreak investigation

For Immediate Release
December 13, 2018

Statement

On Nov. 20, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned the American public of a multi-state outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 linked to romaine lettuce and advised against eating any romaine lettuce on the market at that time. The FDA then worked quickly with romaine producers and distributors who voluntarily withdrew the product from the market to help contain this new outbreak. This was an especially important step in advance of the Thanksgiving holiday. At the same time, we immediately launched a broad traceback investigation to determine the source of this outbreak.

We have new results to report from this investigation tracing the source of the contamination to at least one specific farm. Based on these and other new findings, we’re updating our recommendations for the romaine lettuce industry and consumers.

-snip-

Today, we’re announcing that we’ve identified a positive sample result for the outbreak strain in the sediment of a local irrigation reservoir used by a single farm owned and operated by Adam Bros. Farms in Santa Barbara County. The FDA will be sending investigators back to this farm for further sampling. It’s important to note that although this is an important piece of information, the finding on this farm doesn’t explain all illnesses and our traceback investigation will continue as we narrow down what commonalities this farm may have with other farms that are part of our investigation. While the analysis of the strain found in the people who got ill and the sediment in one of this farm’s water sources is a genetic match, our traceback work suggests that additional romaine lettuce shipped from other farms could also likely be implicated in the outbreak. Therefore, the water from the reservoir on this single farm doesn’t fully explain what the common source of the contamination. We are continuing to investigate what commonalities there could be from multiple farms in the region that could explain this finding in the water, and potentially the ultimate source of the outbreak.

This positive sample from the single farm was collected by the FDA and analyzed by the CDC and determined to match the outbreak strain of E. coli through Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) analysis, the most precise DNA analysis available to us. Adams Bros. Farms is cooperating with the FDA in this outbreak investigation and we are able to confirm that this farm hasn’t shipped any romaine lettuce since Nov. 20. The company has committed to recalling products that may have come into contact with the agricultural water reservoir and we are working with the farm to determine how the contamination occurred and whether corrective actions are needed before their next growing season.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm628400.htm

[pecosbob]

1. Stop feeding livestock antibiotics...

[Wellstone ruled]

2. Stop the runoff

from Dairy and Cattle feedlots into the waterways.

[shanti]

3. I'm in CA

Was shopping the other day, and the store had some romaine with "Imperial Valley grown" on it. I guess that's ok, but I didn't get any. Sucks because I prefer romaine to any other lettuce.

[enough]

4. Restore the rules requiring inspection of irrigation water that have been undone

by the Trump administration.

[suffragette]

5. Exactly. It infuriates me that Trump drones on about faux security like the Wall, while undermining

the actual security of our basic needs of clean air, water and food.

https://www.wired.com/story/the-science-is-clear-dirty-farm-water-is-making-us-sick/

For more than a decade, it’s been clear that there’s a gaping hole in American food safety: Growers aren’t required to test their irrigation water for pathogens such as E. coli. As a result, contaminated water can end up on fruits and vegetables.

After several high-profile disease outbreaks linked to food, Congress in 2011 ordered a fix, and produce growers this year would have begun testing their water under rules crafted by the Obama administration’s Food and Drug Administration.

But six months before people were sickened by the contaminated romaine, President Donald Trump’s FDA – responding to pressure from the farm industry and Trump’s order to eliminate regulations – shelved the water-testing rules for at least four years.

~~~
While postponing the water-testing rules would save growers $12 million per year, it also would cost consumers $108 million per year in medical expenses, according to an FDA analysis.