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NEW YORK (AP) – In the United States and Canada, health officials have urged people to stop eating romaine lettuce because of a new outbreak of E. Coli.
The US Food and Drug Administration announced that it was working with Canadian officials on the outbreak, which has left 32 people sick in 11 states and 18 people in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec.
The identified strain is different from the Roman strain earlier this year, but appears similar to last year's outbreak of green leafy vegetables.
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said the agency did not have enough information to request a recall from suppliers, but he suggested that supermarkets and restaurants remove the Roman until the source contamination can be identified. People are also welcome to throw any Roman that they have at home.
Contaminated lettuce is probably still on the market, Gottlieb told The Associated Press during a phone interview.
He added that the FDA wanted to issue a warning before the meeting for Thanksgiving meals, where the potential for exposure could increase.
"We felt some pressure to draw conclusions as quickly as possible," he said.
In Canada, officials issued similar warnings in the two provinces where people were sick. They stated that there was no evidence to suggest that people from other parts of the country had been affected.
The majority of the romaine sold at this time of year is grown in California, said Gottlieb. Romaine lettuce linked to the epidemic of E. Coli earlier this year came from Yuma, Arizona. The contaminated irrigation water seemed to be at the origin of this epidemic, which made about 200 people sick and killed five.
The FDA's general warning regarding the current outbreak is broader and more direct than the one issued in the previous outbreak, said Robert Whitaker, Scientific Lead for the Produce Marketing Association. During the previous outbreak, warnings about Yuma's Roman could have been confusing, he said.
Whitaker said the industry group told members that they should cooperate with the FDA and stop providing romaine lettuce, all the more so as it was ordered to people stop buying and eating it.
No deaths have been reported in the current outbreak, but 13 people in the United States and six in Canada have been hospitalized. The last reported disease in the United States dates back to October 31. The most recent disease in Canada was declared earlier this month.
Identifying the source of contaminated lettuce can be difficult because it is often repackaged by intermediaries, said Sarah Sorscher, Assistant Director of Regulatory Affairs at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. This can mean that the entire sector is involved in outbreaks, even if not all products are contaminated.
"One of the problems with the products is that it can be very difficult to trace," she said.
She said washing contaminated lettuce would not kill harmful germs.
E. coli infections can cause symptoms such as severe stomach cramps, diarrhea and vomiting. Most people recover within a week, but some illnesses can last longer and be more severe.
Health officials also reminded people to handle and cook their Thanksgiving birds appropriately in a generalized salmonella epidemic linked to raw turkey. Last week, Hormel recalled a few parcels of ground turkey Jennie-O that regulators may have associated with an illness.
But unlike Roman lettuce, regulators do not advise people to avoid turkey. Salmonella is not banned in raw meat and poultry, and the United States Department of Agriculture, which exports raw meat abroad, has stated that cooking should kill all Salmonella.
The following states have reported diseases related to the epidemic:
California
Connecticut
Illinois
Massachusetts
Maryland
Michigan
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New York
Ohio
Wisconsin
(Copyright (c) 2018 The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved This document may not be published, disseminated, rewritten or redistributed.)
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