FDA: It’s safe to eat romaine again

Agency says all the lettuce involved in the outbreak is probably no longer on store shelves or in restaurants.

A restaurant in Chicago tells customers that the romaine lettuce it serves is safe to eat. Photo by Crystal Lindell.

The FDA is telling consumers that romaine lettuce is safe to eat again.

Specially, they say they have received confirmation from the Arizona Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement administered by the Arizona Department of Agriculture that romaine lettuce is no longer being produced and distributed from the Yuma growing region and that the last date of harvest was April 16, 2018.

So, it is unlikely that any romaine lettuce from the Yuma growing region is still available in stores or restaurants due to its 21-day shelf life.

The FDA is continuing to investigate illnesses related to romaine lettuce from the Yuma growing region. Over all 172 cases were reported in three states, including 75 hospitalizations and one one death.

However, it’s complicated by the fact that the ongoing trace back investigation indicates that the illnesses associated with this outbreak cannot be explained by a single grower, harvester, processor, or distributor.

“While traceback continues, FDA will focus on trying to identify factors that contributed to contamination of romaine across multiple supply chains,” the agency says. “The agency is examining all possibilities, including that contamination may have occurred at any point along the growing, harvesting, packaging, and distribution chain before reaching consumers.”

This article was originally posted on www.foodsafetystrategies.com.

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Crystal Lindell has more than 10 years of journalism experience, and worked primarily at daily newspapers before joining BNP Media 2010. Before joining Food Engineering as the Managing Editor, she was the managing editor of a sister publication, Candy Industry Magazine, where she learned first-hand the joys of eating chocolate for breakfast. Lindell holds a master’s degree in public affairs reporting from the University of Illinois – Springfield and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Western Illinois University.