Community Chat

[novamc1]

The Center for Disease Control is the best source of info about disease outbreaks from various foods and other items.  Their website is quite informative.

  The romaine problem seems to have victimized people in more states according to the latest info.  

https://www.cdc.gov/

• Fourteen more ill people from eight states were added to this investigation since the last update on April 25, 2018.
• Three more states have reported ill people: Mississippi, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.
• The most recent illness started on April 20, 2018. Illnesses that occurred in the last two to three weeks might not yet be reported because of the time between when a person becomes ill with E. coli and when the illness is reported to CDC.
• For the latest information about the traceback investigation, visit the U.S. Food and Drug Administration website.

We're supposed to "confirm" that any romaine lettuce we are served in a restaurant  or buying in a grocery store  is not on the bad list before we eat it.   That wouldn't be easy to do with any sort of confidence.

[ValuSkr]

How would we confirm that romaine in a restaurant isn't on the bad list?  Ask them?  presumably they've already discarded the bad stuff.

[suzyQ3]

As of a couple days ago, there was no sign in my market saying that their romaine in any form is safe. Even if they did have a sign, I think I would choose another type of lettuce until this epidemic is over.

[dex]

Honestly I am over romaine it seems to be the most problematic.

[september]

I ate out today and had a big Caesar salad based lunch.  Most of our local restaurants have their own local sources for romaine.  I know the owner of this place, and he assured that.

However, I haven't purchased it in the market in the past few weeks. 

[sissel]

Dr. Oz was on Rachael  Ray and he explained how this happens. He said wash each leaf. I stopped buying it but my husband loves ceasear salad & eats it when we go out. So far he is doing good. Just had it today. I am a little scared to eat it. 

[skuggles]

The current recommendation frm CDC, is for the consumer to avoid all forms of romaine until they determine the source. They say that the number of people becoming ill is probably much higher than captured in the data flow. Something like 15 more people became sick in the most recent collections of the incidence via reported cases. Unfortunately there have been deaths as a result of contracting this e coli bacteria from the lettuce, so they want everyone to err on the side of caution by abstaining from it until they have a better handle on where it is coming from and how it is getting into the food. That includes romaine from restaurants. They are trying to bring all the restaurants up to speed and warniing them to avoid it until they find the source and correct it.

[nrm]

I was at La Madeleine and Kroger this week and they had posts everywhere that their Romaine comes from California and is safe. Also,the notices stated that the contaminated Romaine come from Arizona. 

[novamc1]

Today's metro newspaper for the Atlanta area says the outbreak of illness has now hit a Georgia teenager, who reportedly had consumed romaine at a "number of metro restaurants as well as bagged romaine bought at a store".

The Centers for Disease Control say that it doesn't matter whether the lettuce is romaine hearts, whole heads of romaine, or chopped or salad mixes.

And apparently in contrast to popular belief, investigators have not yet zeroed in on a particular brand or grower.  They are warning not to consume lettuce from Yuma, AZ, but that's not a final recommendation that closes the case, apparently.

Getting sick can take up to a week, and recovery usually happens within another week.

Signs and symptoms usually appear in three to four days after eating the food.  They can include bloody diarrhea, stomach cramps, vomiting.

For some, however, the e.Coli infection gets very serious, and the kidneys start to fail.

Symptoms can be "tricky".....

Diarrhea is improving.

But urination becomes less frequent.

The person feels very tired.

The inside of the lower eyelids and the cheeks lose pink color.

These people need to be treated.

[CalminHeart]

I'm retired and work parttime at a midwest grocery chain's customer service dept.  All of it's stores have signs up about romaine and where it comes from so people are comfortable buying it.