Romaine lettuce at the heart of nationwide CDC Food Safety Alert

The CDC recommends consumers and retailers throw away all romaine lettuce grown in Salinas, Calif.

This comes after they say that 102 people from 23 states became infected with E.coli, a bacteria that can cause severe illness. 58 of those people got sick enough that they needed to be hospitalized.

The CDC says that the warning applies to all types of romaine lettuce, “such as whole heads of romaine, organic romaine, hearts of romaine, romaine in salad wraps, and packages of precut lettuce and salad mixes which contain romaine, including baby romaine, spring mix, and Caesar salad.”

The government health agency says that on most products, the growing region should appear somewhere on the package as a sticker or it may be printed on the packaging. If you don’t know where your romaine comes from, the CDC says: “Don’t eat it. Throw it away.”

In addition to throwing away the lettuce, the CDC recommends washing and sanitizing the drawers or shelves the lettuce was stored in.

You can find out more about the recall on the CDC’s website.

 

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