Romaine lettuce is not safe to eat, CDC warns U.S. consumers

[DonViejo]

Source: The Washington Post



By Joel Achenbach and Lena H. Sun November 20 at 2:51 PM

Romaine lettuce is unsafe to eat in any form, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday in a broad alert in response to a new outbreak of illnesses caused by a particularly dangerous type of E. coli contamination.

The 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. All romaine should be avoided.

The CDC alert, issued just two days before Americans sit down for their Thanksgiving dinners, reported that 32 people in 11 states have become sick from eating contaminated romaine. Of those, 13 have been hospitalized, with one patient suffering from a form of kidney failure. No deaths have been reported.

The origin of the outbreak is unknown and remains under investigation. The CDC did not limit the warning to romaine from any particular agricultural area.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/romaine-lettuce-is-not-safe-to-eat-cdc-warns-us-consumers/2018/11/20/726d0ae6-ece9-11e8-96d4-0d23f2aaad09_story.html

[Historic NY]

1. How is this constantly happening?

[Scoopster]

3. They don't fund the FDA/Dept. of Agriculture.

No funding means no inspectors and no oversight of the country's food supply, which means people get sick for no good reason.

[PSPS]

4. A rhetorical question, for sure.

[DemocracyMouse]

58. Speaking of rhetoric...

I heard that certain handheld technologies – also poorly regulated – have been contaminated with bullets. In this case the contaminates have killed tens of thousands annually.

No one can figure out why Amreican’s aren’t banning these dangerous technologies along with the romaine lettuce. The latter has not killed anyone yet.

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

12. And timely too...2 days before Thanksgiving.....

after everyone bought the 'shitty' Romaine. How convenient. The stores should've thrown it out first. LOTS of salads eaten on Thursday this week. That's an ugly sickness.

[lagomorph777]

39. Fertilizing with raw manure

...and who knows what else.

I'm all for organic farming, but there are certain steps that have to be taken for safety.

More plant compost, and less animal manure, but in both cases good composting practice is mandatory. Eating fewer animals will change that balance, over time.

[Delmette2.0]

42. You nailed it! nt

[exboyfil]

2. Just ate a head for lunch

I wonder how much I have left?

My mom got sick last month with E coli (she lives in Florida). I wonder if she got bad romaine. She was in the hospital for almost a month (also had MRSA). Still IV antibiotics at home.

I threw everything out of her refrigerator, but I did purchase and consume three heads of romaine while I was down there. It is my go to salad.

Well back to iceberg I guess. Will save some bucks, but not nearly as good.

[haele]

11. Green leaf or red leaf lettuce is just as good as romaine for most uses.

A bit more peppery and not as "crunchy", but they're good substitutes for lettuce wraps.
Cabbage is also a good substitute, but you need to make sure it's young if you want it sweet.

Haele.

[wasupaloopa]

5. Some restaurants only put romaine in salads.

I don’t like eating the center of the leaves only the green leafy part do I like.

[llmart]

25. Glad I'm not the only one.

I always cut the rib out of the leaf and just tear up the lettuce leaf portion. I also never buy bagged greens (or boxes, or whatever they prepackage it in). It just isn't as fresh tasting to me. Yes, it's more time consuming, but it's worth it.

[YOHABLO]

6. So organic romaine lettuce is not okay?

[frazzled]

13. No, not okay

The “organic” label does not protect against potential ecoli contamination.

[DonViejo]

53. The article says nothing about organic romaine lettuce. In fact, it says, "avoid all types."

[zipplewrath]

20. Often worse

Can't say in this case, but many of the spinach recalls were for organic varieties. They don't use nearly the chemicals that the industrial farms use and so apparently are more exposed to risk if the vegetables get contaminated.

[LisaM]

7. Dang, it's pretty much my go-to for salads.

I like salad greens to be crunchy, not limp. They'd better fix this asap.

[lagomorph777]

40. Iceberg! My wife thinks I'm an idiot for liking Iceberg. Who's laughing now?

[smirkymonkey]

43. So do I! I love Romaine.

I like other greens too, but I always like to mix in Romaine for the crunch and texture.

[LisaM]

46. Exactly. I don't want a bunch of spinach and escarole sticking to my teeth.

Also, I love Caesar salads.

I like iceberg lettuce for sandwiches; guess I'll mix it with darker greens for salads until this is fixed.

[dhill926]

8. just came home with of organic from TJ's...

will wait to see what states are affected. Odds are it's ok...

[Gidney N Cloyd]

17. Follow the CDC link int he OP. There's a map there.

[dhill926]

19. thx...

oops...California not looking too good...

[Freethinker65]

9. Damn.

[jb5150]

10. I always go for baby spinach ...

I detest iceberg lettuce.

[regnaD kciN]

27. Which sounds great, except...

...a friend of mine got salmonella from spinach last year, and quite literally nearly died from it.

[Sneederbunk]

14. Old enough to remember 1959 Thanksgiving Cranberry Scare.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

15. 32 cases since October 6 so it's not really a sudden outbreak.

I think I'll go ahead and eat the salad I picked up for dinner.

[DRoseDARs]

21. It's this kind of willfulness that gets people killed. Read the article and throw that shit out.

The CDC is not a hotbed of hair-on-fire panic and woo. Their primary job is not to react to outbreaks, epidemics and pandemics, but to stay ahead of them and prevent them if they can. If they're telling you to throw your romaine lettuce out, THROW YOUR ROMAINE LETTUCE OUT.

[Act_of_Reparation]

24. It's pretty incredible people would risk death by shiga toxin for a fucking head of lettuce.

If you're going to die for food, at least die for something with flavor.

[pamela]

32. Yeah, just threw mine out.

It hurt. I'm on a fairly tight budget and it was the last of my produce but I can't afford to get sick either. And dying would really suck.

[jberryhill]

16. Caught in a bad Romaine

I want your salad, I want your disease
I want your croutons as long as they're free
I want your leaves
Leaves, leaves, leaves, I want your leaves

I want your leaves, and I want honey ranch
You and me could eat a bad romaine
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Caught in a bad romaine

[Auggie]

28. LOL

[Glimmer of Hope]

61. Hahaha!

[StarryNite]

18. Again?!

Geez this is getting old!

[benld74]

22. Romaine is ALL the lettuce my family eats

And has been since WAY before the 1st outbreak.


Guess we've been playing roulette?

[defacto7]

23. I suppose it could mean fast food sandwiches/hamburgers

I imagine they use iceburg for those... but who knows.

[flibbitygiblets]

26. As I'm eating my salad for the 2nd day in a row from Chipotle, the E.Coli poster restaurant...

Can we order extra lettuce on all of Rump's big macs at least?

[flibbitygiblets]

44. Well I guess if I didn't get sick eating the same salad yesterday I'm probably good today.

[LisaM]

29. I went up to our work cafeteria after reading this. The romaine lettuce had been pulled.

I'm glad to know they're keeping on top of these announcements.

[regnaD kciN]

30. I'm pretty sure it was romaine in the Cobb salad I had last night...

...and it certainly was in the Caesar from a couple of days before that.

So, I imagine it’s only a matter of time before I get “tombstoned”…in the literal sense.

It was nice knowing all of you.

[Harker]

59. Perhaps you'll beat the odds.

I would advise you, though, to steer well clear of the salmon mousse.

[Sunlei]

31. even spring mix has baby romaine- CDC says"until we learn more" & NO antibiotics can be

used with this form of ecoli 'infection'.

here's CDC link and note even Canada is having some cases.-

https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/2018/o157h7-11-18/index.html

They need to find the source! There aren't that many mega-farm growers corporations..

[geardaddy]

33. That is fucking scary.

I don't normally eat romaine. We usually eat Spring mix from our co-op.

At least your average Minnesotan won't have to worry about it on Thanksgiving. The only salad usually on any traditional table is jello salad or ambrosia salad. Ewwww.

[ginnyinWI]

35. yes luckily we are opting for a relish tray instead.

You know--carrot and celery sticks, olives, pickles, red pepper rings.

[geardaddy]

37. Yep. I love that tradition.

About the only thing we don't do anymore is pickled peaches or those apple rings that are soaked in grenadine.

[ginnyinWI]

38. oh and also the cherry tomatoes are a hit--

And this year I'm going to add some pickled jalapenos.

[geardaddy]

41. Nice!

We're bringing dolmas for an appetizer.

[ginnyinWI]

34. Even Spring Mix!

The first one I looked up online, Fresh Express, contains Romaine.

[Hassler]

36. No money for inspections and this is what you get. It won't be the only time.

[Duppers]

45. DANG!

I just bought some 2 nights ago.

[IronLionZion]

47. I'll cook my vegetables

salad is just not worth it

I have spinach, peppers, onions, kale, broccoli. I like raw spinach but will saute in olive oil just in case.

This outbreak may not be limited to just romaine.

[riversedge]

48. k for visibility

[NastyRiffraff]

49. What is it with Romaine?

How come only it has problems? We don't hear about red or green leaf, or iceberg lettuce.

[Cal Tek]

50. It's Lettuce: Who Cares???

Unless you're a rabbit, or hamster, or gerbil, etc. Daym Drops, a Youtuber who reviews fast-food items, calls it "crunchy water." I agree.

[AdamGG]

51. Yay, let's slash some more regulations

[The Genealogist]

52. Just checked the bag of salad I bought

No romaine. I like romaine. I hope all the wingnuts who hate that "big gubmint" are watching. "Big gubmint" with well-funded and professional oversight of this could keep this kind of dangerous food issue at bay.

[BlueInRedHell]

54. I've been shunning lettuce all year due to all the recalls and I have really been missing r/o

regular salads. Salads with all the other veggies but no lettuce are good but *not the same*.

[Vinca]

55. Well, that explains why there was no romaine at the store.

[Sedona]

56. I was eating romaine all weekend

And I'm sick as fuck!

[zeusdogmom]

57. If you can, grown your own

Even inside in the middle of winter. A old shop light is my grow light. It's not that hard.

I have a few sad heads left in the garden. It has been pretty cold and my frost cover took a beating in the wind. Time to fire up my basement garden.

[gtar100]

60. I'm sure it has nothing to do with killing billions of animals annually and spraying their blood

over fields or letting it collect in ponds where it accidentally seeps into the ground water. Or throwing their shit everywhere and calling it fertilizer. I'm sure there's an explanation out there that doesn't make anyone feel uncomfortable about how shitty we treat the animals we eat ot how irresponsible and reprehensible factory farming is. Or the fact that we support it every time we buy the body parts. They are, after all, just meat sacks made for our pleasure and consumption, I presume. Who the fuck cares as long as the packaging looks good. Contamination must be something that just happens to lettuce sometimes. Gotta be careful about those vegetables!

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

62. I just bought some the other day after avoiding buying for months (geez).

Throwing it out, but hopefully I won't get sick. Grrr..

Better safe than sorry.

[diva77]

63. is it ok for turtles to eat the lettuce?

[YOHABLO]

64. Just at the grocery store earlier this evening. Romaine is fully stocked, no warning..nothing.

I'm wondering if the CDC is putting out a blanket statement to ward off any possibilities of contamination. Organic Romaine has to be safer. IMO They honestly do not know where the problem lays. I'm eating a salad of baby mix greens, organic, and haven't had any illness bestowed on me.

[suffragette]

65. Romaine has had this issue off and on for about a year now. And still no location of the problem?

[Cha]

66. I just had some really nice

Butter leaf from Maui.. with my pasta salad.

I bought it at Safeway on Kauai..




http://www.livegourmet.com/blog/lettuce-be-fresh/dos-and-donts-for-extending-leafy-greens/

Be safe!

[GoCubsGo]

67. My local Aldi has really good butter lettuce.

It's hydroponically-grown. Probably not from Maui, however. It's great for lettuce wraps.

[Turbineguy]

68. You'd think they'd be worried about a challenge from the

National Romaine Association.