The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Canadian health officials announced last week to stop eating romaine lettuce because of a new outbreak of the E. coli virus. As of today, 43 people in 12 states and 22 people in Canada have fallen ill due to the consumption of romaine lettuce.
According to the agency, the tainted greens appear to have come from the Central Coast region of California. Romaine that was recently harvested in Arizona, California’s Imperial Valley, Florida, and Mexico is safe to eat because lettuce from those areas was not shipped when the cases of illnesses started.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned Americans to avoid eating romaine lettuce and told retailers and restaurants to stop selling them. If you have romaine lettuce at home, whether they are whole heads of romaine or salad mixes which contain romaine, you should throw them away and sanitize the refrigerator drawers where they were held.
In three to four days after eating any food contaminated by E. coli, common symptoms include fever, stomach cramps, and bloody diarrhea. Although most infected individuals can recover within a week or so, some can remain sick for a longer period of time and even suffer from kidney failure.
Between March and June this year, romaine lettuce form Yuma, AZ sickened approximately 200 people and resulted in five fatalities. However, this new outbreak of E. coli is not linked with the earlier case. Experts claim contaminated irrigation water neat a cattle lot was the source.
Due to the difficulties of tracing produce back, the industry made an agreement to begin using labels to inform consumers of harvest dates and regions of origin. When it comes to romaine which doesn’t come in packaging, retailers are urged to post the information through the register.
If you have suffered a serious illness caused by tainted food products in Texas, contact our Fort Worth personal injury attorney at the Law Office of James M. Stanley and request a free consultation today.