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East County News Service
November 24, 2019 (San Diego) - CDC, public health and regulatory officials in several states and the U.S. Food and Drug Administrationexternal icon (FDA) are investigating a multistate outbreak of E. coli infections linked to romaine lettuce harvested from the Salinas, California growing region.
To date, 40 cases have been reported in 16 states, with 28 hospitalizations including five patients who developed kidney failure.
The CDC advises consumer consumers not to eat any romaine lettuce harvested from the Salinas, CA area. Check the label for the harvest location and if it says Salinas or no location is shown, throw it away. This includes whole heads of romaine, hearts of romaine, and packages of precut lettuce or salad mixes containing romaine including baby romaine, spring mix, and Caesar salad.
Wash and sanitize refrigerator drawers or shelve where romaine lettuce was stored.
Retailers and restaurants should not sell or serve any romaine lettuce grown in the region, products that may contain romaine lettuce from the Salinas area, or romaine lettuce products that don’t list a growing region.
Missa Bay LLC has issued a recall on salad products sold under many different brand names due to possible E. coli contamination.
The recalled salad products have “Use By” dates ranging from October 29, 2019, to November 1, 2019 and had establishment number “EST. 18502B” inside the USDA mark of inspection.
Take action if you have symptoms of an E. coli infection, which usually occur 3 or 4 days after consuming a contaminated product.
- Talk to your healthcare provider.
- Write down what you ate in the week before you started to get sick.
- Report your illness to your local health department.
- Assist public health investigators by answering questions about your illness.
- Prevent infections in others by practicing proper hygiene, especially good handwashing.
The investigation is ongoing to determine the source of contamination and if additional products are linked to illness. This outbreak is caused by the same strain of E. coli that caused outbreaks linked to leafy greens in 2017 and to romaine lettuce in 2018.
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