For more than two weeks, the FDA and the CDC have been investigating the outbreak as it continues to grow and have only been able to track down where the whole-head romaine lettuce came from. The government is still looking for the source of chopped lettuce that sickened dozens more Americans.
Federal officials discovered one source of a growing nationwide E.coli outbreak linked to romaine lettuce that has revived concerns over a leafy green industry that has long grappled with how to produce safe food. But questions still remained over the origins of most U.S. illnesses. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday said it has traced the whole-head romaine lettuce that sickened eight inmates in an Alaska jail to Harrison Farms in Yuma, Ariz., but that it is still looking for the source of chopped lettuce that sickened dozens more Americans. (Newman, 4/27)
Fourteen more people fell ill from an E. coli outbreak linked to romaine lettuce, U.S. health officials said on Friday, bringing the number of people affected to 98 across 22 U.S. states. The reported strain of E. coli, which produces poisonous substances known as Shiga toxins, can cause severe abdominal cramps, bloody diarrhea and vomiting. (Mishra, 4/27)