A new E. coli outbreak has led to American and Canadian health officials warning people not to eat romaine lettuce anytime soon, according to the AP.
The American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is working with Canadian officials on this outbreak, which has already taken a toll, right before Thanksgiving. 32 Americans in 11 states and 18 Canadians in the provinces Ontario and Quebec have been afflicted so far. Meanwhile, everybody on Twitter is making the exact same pun, and I think I feel pretty upset that they’re overused it. Now it would be too much for me to say: romaine calm everybody and lettuce help you!
#Romaine calm, everyone! #Lettuce help you out with plenty of Thanksgiving "salad" recipes, sans the leafy greens. 😜 https://t.co/NwXmBm6nHP
— Des Moines Register (@DMRegister) November 20, 2018
Remember the outbreak from earlier this year and how five people actually died because they had romaine lettuce? Well, this present outbreak has been caused by a different strain than the one that took place this summer, but this present strain is similar to last year’s outbreak caused by leafy greens.
Don’t eat romaine lettuce, throw it away
With so many outbreaks, I don’t know who would still want to have romaine lettuce in the near future. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb told the AP that for now, there isn’t enough information to ask suppliers for a recall. But he suggested that supermarkets and restaurants withdraw their romaine lettuce until the source of the contamination can be identified.
Another piece of advice? If you plan to eat romaine lettuce this holiday season or just have some lying around the house, then throw it away! The agency decided to issue this warning because family meals and holiday gatherings can lead to even more exposure.
Most romaine lettuce that’s sold during the holiday season is grown in California, according to Gottlieb, while the one that was responsible for the outbreak earlier this year had been sold in Yuma, Arizona. That particular outbreak got over 200 people sick and five dead.
