The U.S. FDA now says that the Romaine Lettuce at the root of the most recent mass food poisoning outbreak involving E. coli has been traced to a California source. Previous mass outbreaks of E. coli poisoning ware trace to Texas and Arizona growing regions…
An Andy Boy brand Romaine field in Northern California. The FDA
and CFIA say that brand and others from North and Central
California are safe to eat. Ask your supermarket…
A new FDA advisory dated yesterday says the Romaine Lettuce causing the latest mass attack of E. coli across much of the U.S. Northeast and parts of Canada came from few growing areas in California:
“The specific California counties FDA is including in this region are:
- Monterey
- San Benito
- San Luis Obispo
- Santa Barbara
- Santa Cruz
- Ventura
Additional counties may be added as the FDA traceback develops.
Romaine harvested from locations outside of the California regions identified by the traceback investigation does not appear to be related to the current outbreak.”
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has issued a similar advisory.
Note that the counties on the affected list are all in the southern part of the state…
Clarifing my clarification…
In my previous post abut the latest Romaine kerfuffle, I stated that California Lettuce was probably not affected by the current recall and ‘Do Not Use’ warnings, as the E.coli bacteria involved were identified as very similar genetically to the ones behind the previous Texas/Arizona based outbreaks. I even stated that I was eating California Romaine with no ill effects.
Well, I can now clarify the situation: My Romaine Hearts of choice are Andy Boy brand, grown in Salinas, in northern California. And Salinas is outside the affected area described in the latest FDA Romaine advisory. In fact, there’s lots of Romaine being grown and shipped from Northern California right now, and its growers want everyone to know that the product is safe.
As a side note, the FDA has also confirmed that Romaine from Texas, Arizona and Mexico is safe to eat. Your supermarket will know where it’s Romaine is coming from and should be able to confirm it’s safe.
So go ahead and buy Romaine as long as you know where it’s from. And get back in the Salad habit again!
~ Maggie J.