California romaine lettuce contaminated

(CNS): After almost 100,000lbs of lettuce was recalled in the United States, the Center for Disease Control has issued a warning about an E. coli outbreak linked to contaminated romaine lettuce from Salinas, California. The Cayman Islands Department of Environmental Health is warning people here not to buy or consume the affected products and for retailers to remove the lettuce from their shelves and restaurants from their menus.

Officials said most romaine products are labelled with a harvest location and all types of romaine lettuce harvested from Salinas are affected, including whole heads of romaine, hearts of romaine, and packages of pre-cut lettuce and salad mixes which contain romaine, including baby romaine, spring mix and Caesar salad.

If people already have lettuce at home with a label that says “Salinas” alone or with the name of another location they should not eat it but throw it away, officials said. If it isn’t labelled with a growing region, don’t eat it and throw it away. If you don’t know if the lettuce is romaine or whether a salad mix contains romaine, don’t eat it, and throw it away.

The DEH is also advising people to wash and sanitize drawers or shelves in refrigerators where romaine lettuce was stored.

Restaurants and retailers are being directed to check the label on bags or boxes of romaine lettuce and ask suppliers about the source of the romaine lettuce. Any lettuce from the Salinas should not be served but thrown away. DEH officers have contacted local wholesalers and supermarkets to ensure that they do not sell the affected product.

Anyone who may have or becomes ill after eating lettuce should contact their doctor.

Over the last two months there have been 40 reported cases in the United States, with 28 people taken to hospital as a result of consuming the E.coli infected lettuce. Five people have developed a type of kidney failure called hemolytic uremic syndrome, according to the CDC.

Symptoms of the particular strand of E.coli found in the lettuce include cramping, bloody diarrhea and vomiting.