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There is a major romaine lettuce recall right now: Tanimura & Antle, a California-based company, is voluntarily recalling its romaine lettuce heads in 20 states due to possible E. coli contamination.
The recall involves whole heads of individually wrapped romaine lettuce produced under the Tanimura & Antle brand name, according to a press release on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) website. Only those with packing dates of October 15 or October 16, 2020 are included. In all, the recall includes 3,396 cartons of romaine lettuce that have been distributed in 20 states. (For the full list of affected products and states, see the FDA site here.)
No illnesses have been reported in connection with the recall, the press release said. But the company is recalling lettuce out of caution after a random sampling test conducted by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development detected E. coli on the company’s lettuce. These products were sold at Walmart in clear plastic packaging with blue and white letters.
More specifically, they detected the presence of E. Coli O157: H7, which is a type of E. Shiga toxin-producing coli (STEC). All types of E. Coli don’t cause harmful infections, but STEC strains certainly can. Symptoms of these infections usually include stomach cramps, diarrhea (which can be bloody) and vomiting, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explains. Some people will also develop a low fever.
For most healthy adults, the infection is not serious and will go away within five to seven days without treatment, according to the CDC. But for some people in more vulnerable groups, such as very young children and the elderly, an E. coli infection can become more serious. In more severe cases, the infection can cause what’s called hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), in which the bacteria cause a form of kidney failure, SELF explained previously.
If this recall of E. Coli sounds familiar to you, this may be because there have been multiple outbreaks of this strain of E. Coli particular in romaine lettuce in 2018, linked to growers in California and Arizona. There was a recall of romaine lettuce in both of these cases, but hundreds of people still fell ill, some were hospitalized and a few died due to the outbreaks.
Due to the shelf life of romaine lettuce and the time that has passed, the company says it is unlikely that any of the recalled products will still be on store shelves. But it’s worth checking your kitchen to make sure you don’t have a hiding place at home.
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