Romaine E. coli outbreak impacting local restaurants
U.S. health officials are telling people to avoid eating romaine lettuce because of an E. coli outbreak that has sickened 32 people in 11 states, forcing restaurants and grocery stores in Southern New England to make big changes.
The Food and Drug Administration says it’s working with officials in Canada, where people are also being warned to stay away from romaine lettuce. The strain identified is different than the one linked to romaine earlier this year, but it appears similar to one linked to leafy greens last year.
At KC’s Burger Bar in Seekonk, line cook Nicholas Malvesti said his kitchen acted quickly the minute they heard about the alert.
“Pull all the Romaine immediately, don’t touch it, we don’t know what’s going on,” Malvesti said. “We haven’t put any lettuce on the burgers today and the servers said we aren’t able to serve our Romaine today. We’ve been doing spinach instead.”
Tuesday’s alert is the second one this year, except this alert is for all forms of Romaine lettuce. In April, people in 11 states became infected from lettuce that came out of Yuma, Ariz.
Malvesti said this was the second time his kitchen had to throw out Romaine lettuce, costing them about $90.
“I don’t know what the next step is. Maybe just switch to a different kind of lettuce,” he said. “After the last time we had the E. coli break out there’s less lettuce, less veggies going on the burger.”
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb says the agency doesn’t yet have enough information to request suppliers issue a recall. But he says suppliers can help by withdrawing romaine products until the contamination can be identified.
Rhode Island Department of Health spokesperson Joseph Wendelken said the agency began notifying restaurants and stores of the alert once it came down.
“At this point our focus is on education. Getting the word out, make sure people know,” he said. “People should take this alert very seriously.”
Other restaurants in the area tell ABC 6 they got rid of their lettuce as well, and local food stores have pulled it from shelves.
No deaths have been reported. The last illness was reported on Oct. 31.
Most E. coli bacteria are not harmful, but some produce toxins that can cause severe illness.
***This story contains information from the Associated Press
©WLNE-TV / ABC6 2018
