Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Blanket Warning Against All Romaine Lettuce Narrowed Down To Products Coming From Areas In California
It鈥檚 O.K. to eat romaine lettuce again, federal health officials said on Monday 鈥 as long as you鈥檙e sure it wasn鈥檛 grown on California鈥檚 north and central coast. The Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said investigators had traced the romaine lettuce associated with an outbreak of E. coli that has sickened 65 people in 12 states and Canada to 鈥渆nd of summer鈥 romaine lettuce harvested from that region. (Kaplan, 11/26)
People shouldn鈥檛 eat romaine that doesn鈥檛 have the label information, the FDA said. For romaine that doesn鈥檛 come in packaging, grocers and retailers are being asked to post the information by the register. Romaine harvesting recently began shifting from California鈥檚 Central Coast to winter growing areas, primarily Arizona, Florida, Mexico and California鈥檚 Imperial Valley. Those winter regions weren鈥檛 yet shipping when the illnesses began. The FDA also noted hydroponically grown romaine and romaine grown in greenhouses aren鈥檛 implicated in the outbreak. (Choi, 11/26)
The new warning from the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention came as the number of people sickened by the outbreak grew to 43 people in 12 states. Sixteen of those people have been hospitalized, including one person with severe kidney failure. No deaths have been reported. The updated information follows an unusually broad warning that federal health officials issued two days before Thanksgiving, telling consumers to throw away any romaine lettuce they may already have purchased. (Sun, 11/26)
The current E. coli outbreak is the third linked to leafy greens within the past year. The FDA said 11 more people had been sickened in the outbreak, bringing the total to 43 people in 12 states. Sixteen people have been hospitalized, and one has developed a form of kidney failure, according to the CDC. Twenty-two people have also fallen ill in Canada, and officials in that country have advised people in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick to avoid eating the lettuce. (Newman, 11/26)
