If you like romaine lettuce, you won’t be seeing much of it any time soon.
In fact, you shouldn’t see any romaine lettuce until further notice. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration are investigating a multi-state outbreak of E. coli, and as a result all romaine lettuce is either being pulled from store shelves and restaurant menus or has already been pulled.
Country Mart manager Nancy Garcia says they were alerted to the situation Tuesday afternoon.
Garcia says romaine now is in a lot more places than you might expect — or it was.
Restaurants are making adjustments along with grocers. On that list is Do-B’s which was using romaine exclusively until this week and had to dump cases of the lettuce. Do-B’s is now using leaf lettuce for its menu items.
Currently there have been 32 reported cases across 11 states. Kansas is not on either list at this time.
Symptoms of E. coli often include severe stomach cramps, diarrhea — often bloody — and vomiting. Some people may have a low-grade fever. Most people get better within 5-7 days. Some infections are very mild, but others are severe or even life-threatening.
The advisory announced Tuesday now means there are two simultaneous E. coli investigations involving romaine lettuce affecting residents in the United States and Canada. The first investigation focuses on over 200 confirmed E. coli cases in 36 states. Again, Kansas currently does not have an E. coli case linked to this investigation.
Consumers who have any type of romaine lettuce in their home should not eat it and should throw it away, even if some of it was eaten and no one has gotten sick. This will include straight romaine, baby romaine, lettuce mixes and Caesar salad mixes.
Click here for the Food and Drug Administration website regarding the current outbreak.
