Tainted Romaine Lettuce Sickens 1 In Virginia: Consumer Reports

Virginia consumers should stop eating romaine lettuce until the cause of an E. coli outbreak is identified and the offending product is removed from store shelves, consumer advocacy group Consumer Reports says. The organization made announcement this week following an E. coli outbreak that sickened at least 58 people in the United States and Canada, with the source of the tainted product still undetermined.

People in 13 states, including Virginia, were infected between Nov. 15 and Dec. 8. The outbreak has led to five hospitalizations and one death, the Centers for Disease Control said. While health officials in the United States continue to investigate the outbreak, it has not yet told consumers avoid romaine lettuce or any other food. No specific product has been recalled.

"Because we have not identified a source of the infections, CDC is unable to recommend whether U.S. residents should avoid a particular food. This investigation is ongoing, and more information will be released as it becomes available," the CDC said on its website.

“It would certainly seem that with two deaths and 56 other illness in multiple states and Canada, there would be an announcement of where the romaine lettuce was sold and who grew it. This outbreak extends back to November and December of last year,” said Bill Marler, the Seattle food safety attorney who’s been watching foodborne illnesses since the deadly 1993 E. coli outbreak traced to Jack in the Box, reports Food Safety News.

The same variety of the pathogen, O157:H7, which sickened and killed children who ate undercooked fast food hamburgers 25 years ago, is the culprit in the current outbreak in the U.S. and Canada.

But Consumer Reports is warning Americans to exercise caution and avoid the product altogether.

"Even though we can't say with 100 percent certainty that romaine lettuce is the cause of the E. coli outbreak in the U.S., a greater degree of caution is appropriate given that lettuce is almost always consumed raw," said James Rogers, Ph.D., Director of Food Safety and Research at Consumer Reports.

The CDC says it continues to interview infected people to determine what they ate in the week before their illness started. "CDC is still collecting information to determine whether there is a food item in common among sick people, including leafy greens and romaine," the agency said on its website.

Researchers at Consumer Reports say they fear "people could eat a lot of potentially contaminated romaine while waiting for a company recall or for the CDC and FDA to identify the specific source of the outbreak."

According to the U.S. Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, most forms of E.Coli, or Escherichia coli, bacteria are harmless; however, some forms cause disease when they make a toxin called Shiga. Shiga toxin-producing E. Coli, or STEC, is responsible for an estimated 30 deaths in the U.S. per year, with children younger than 5 and older adults being the most susceptible to a life-threatening complication from STEC called hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS, according to the CDC.

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