Edhat Staff
(stock image)
By edhat staff
Another recall of romaine lettuce from Salinas, CA has been issued due to potential E.coli contamination.
A massive recall of romaine lettuce was also issued last year due to similar contamination and illness reports.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report more than 100 people in 23 states have been infected with a strain of E. coli linked to romaine lettuce grown in the Salinas area.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the CDC are investigating a multistate outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 infections linked to the lettuce “to determine the source of contamination and if additional products are linked to illness.”
An initial safety alert was issued on November 22 with additional reports issued as the number of illnesses rose.
FDA reports it requested the “industry voluntarily withdraw romaine grown in Salinas from the market and is requesting that industry withhold distribution of Salinas romaine for the remainder of the growing season in Salinas. Without more specific traceback information, this was the most efficient way to ensure that contaminated romaine was off the market.”
Whole heads od romaine, hearts of romaine, and precut lettuce and salad mixes should not be consumed or sold, advises the CDC.
The full report from the FDA can be found here.
How long does this have to go on until something can be held accountable. Right now everyone thru the chain just has to take the lose.
Be wary of salads that say “local lettuce” from Trader Jones’. We are not buying any of their premade salads after two instances of getting sick on them. The Obama administration tried to make water testing of ag water mandatory to catch pollution but the Trump administration has reversed the decision . So you know who to thank. “The Trump administration on Thursday announced the repeal of a major Obama-era clean water regulation that had … Agricultural groups, an important political constituency for Mr. Trump, praised the repeal. … and led to the largest effort to reverse a regulation in this organization’s history. https://www.nytimes.com › 2019/09/12 › climate › trump-administration-roll…
Who is going potty in these fields?
Everyone that works out there?
That repeal has nothing to do with food safety but sure, go ahead and blame this on Trump anyway.
Gross water pollution in agricultural fields does not automatically mean that field workers are crapping where they work. Decaying septic systems, nearby animal feed lots leaching contaminated raw sewage into the aquifer, broken sewer lines, chemical plant discharge, etc. can all pollute ground water wells that are feeding into unregulated (thanks to the latest Trump administration reversal of Clean Water Act regulation) wells of irrigation water. Blaming field workers is a ludicrous and unfounded bunch of … you know.
Another case of wash your hands after you……
My salad last night was Romaine lettuce, shredded carrot, finely chopped raw red beet, chopped red cabbage, yellow bell pepper ( from our garden), one tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese, with homemade French dressing. Delicious. Feeling okay ri—-, uh now, um, urk. . . Uh . . . Oh . . . Hold on. I’ll be right back . . .
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/why-romaine-lettuce-keeps-getting-recalled-for-e-coli-contamination/2019/11/26/f20e7592-0fc4-11ea-b0fc-62cc38411ebb_story.html
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” … Contaminated agricultural water is a prime suspect in these outbreaks. The Trump administration delayed implementation of new agricultural water testing rules, developed during the Obama administration, that were set to take effect last year.
The rules would require farmers to test four times per growing season for generic E. coli in agricultural water. Some farmers pushed back against the new rule, calling it confusing and unwieldy. The FDA decided to delay implementation. Now, large farms will be required to meet the requirements in January 2022, with small farms following in 2023 and very small farms in 2024.
But leafy greens industry officials say the delay in the rule isn’t to blame for the romaine lettuce outbreak, because the industry already performs the water tests on a monthly basis.
Still, the growers said they are frustrated that their own standards to prevent contamination — codified in the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement — have not resolved the problem.
“They are the most stringent and most scientifically based requirements on how to grow leafy greens,” said Sutton, who is also chairman of the marketing agreement.
After last year’s outbreak, the FDA determined the E. coli strain that sickened people across the country came from surface water rather than ground water pumped from an aquifer. As a result, the coalition of leafy green growers decided to ban the use of surface water unless it is treated with anti-bacterial chemicals 21 days before harvest.