Washington Insider: Lettuce E coli Cases Become More Severe

The ongoing E. coli outbreak linked to romaine lettuce has turned deadly, with one person dying in California, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Wednesday. The outbreak is widely reported.For example, the New York Times said that the current CDC report was ”the first reported death in the outbreak, which began in March and has spread to 25 states. The California Department of Public Health confirmed the death,” the Times said.By now, the CDC. has recorded 121 cases nationwide, including 52 that resulted in hospitalization. Twenty-four cases have been reported in California. Pennsylvania has reported 20 cases and Idaho 11; no other state has reported more than eight.The total on Wednesday was up 23 cases from the last update on April 27, and Kentucky, Massachusetts and Utah reported their first cases. The newest update includes illnesses that began as recently as April 21.It can take two to three weeks for E. coli infections to be reported to the CDC, so the actual case count may be higher, the Times said.The illnesses appear to stem from romaine lettuce grown in the Yuma, Ariz., region, and the CDC is warning restaurants and consumers to avoid romaine unless they can confirm that it was grown in a different region. Some of the infections have been linked to whole-head lettuce from a specific grower, Harrison Farms. The remainder are linked to chopped, bagged lettuce whose supplier, or suppliers, officials have not conclusively identified.Most strains of E. coli are harmless but certain strains can cause illness, and the strain involved in the current outbreak is particularly virulent. The main symptoms are stomach cramps, vomiting and diarrhea, often bloody. In rare cases, patients can develop a form of kidney failure known as hemolytic uremic syndrome.The current outbreak is the largest in the United States since 2006, when 199 people became ill and three died from E. coli infections traced to spinach.Based on new information, the CDC is expanding its warning to consumers to cover all types of romaine lettuce from the Yuma, Ariz., growing region. However, the CDC apparently still has not identified the exact source of the outbreak.For example, Food Safety News (FSN) criticized FDA and noted that it needs more industry information to manage recalls. “Shipping and receiving records don’t tell the whole traceability story. There are not enough dots to connect," it says, and argues “without more dots, we are not likely to see a romaine recall. We did not see a recall in the first romaine outbreak. By the time, CDC and FDA work from the ill person through each link in the supply chain back to the source, all the contaminated lettuce will likely be consumed.”FSN notes that not so long ago, USDA operated a microbiological data program (MDP) to test fresh produce during the various harvest seasons. The MDP existed for a decade, and “became responsible for 80% of the fresh produce testing in the U.S.,” FSN says. Now, the FDA also tests fresh produce. but FSN doubts that coverage is anywhere close to making up for MDP’s demise. “When leafy green outbreaks occur now, our federal experts go into the field thin on data,” FSN said.Both the CDC and consumer advocates agree that if you don’t know for sure what’s in your salad, don’t eat it. However, Consumer Reports thinks the CDC’s advice is “impractical” and is now urging consumers to avoid all romaine lettuce, whether it is bagged or not.“Are you really supposed to say to the waiter who serves you Caesar salad, ‘Can you tell me where the romaine lettuce was obtained?’” said Jean Halloran, director of food policy initiatives for Consumers Union, the advocacy arm of Consumer Reports. “It’s completely unreasonable and unrealistic to think consumers may be able to sort out whether the romaine they eat at a restaurant or buy at a store comes from Yuma, Ariz., or someplace else. The prudent thing to do at this point is to avoid all romaine.”Lettuce has a short shelf life and a lot of retailers have taken bagged romaine off shelves. “Hopefully with it being in one particular growing region and that region moving to California, it won’t be too much longer,” said Laura Gieraltowski, who leads the CDC’s food-borne outbreak response team. That said, she urged consumers to wait for the all-clear from the CDC before eating chopped romaine.Well, the problem with food safety oversight is that testing is costly and interferes some with harvest and delivery timing — as the commercial meat industry discovered nearly a hundred years ago. Now those inspections have been modernized, and are both more efficient and effective. FDA coverage of the vast bulk of the food industry is far less intense and heavily dependent on commercial firms’ instincts to protect their brands.So, not only is this outbreak likely to be very costly to producers, it may reduce overall consumer confidence in the U.S. food chain, and lead to tighter regulations on producers and processors in the future. Certainly, consumers are becoming aware of the risk, and pressure for changes in safety programs is growing rapidly — a process producers should watch closely as it emerges, Washington Insider believes.