News

FDA finds a source of e coli-tainted romaine

December 14, 2018

One farm's water reservoir has been pinpointed as a primary source of the e.coli that tainted romaine lettuce and prompted the FDA to virtually halt all sales of the salad mainstay. The federal food safety organization said a local irrigation reservoir used only by the Adam Bros. Farms in Santa Barbara County, California, has been pinpointed as a source of the problematic greens, but that is by far not the whole story, according to a release.

The good news is that the FDA said in a news release that  the tainted romaine was either beyond its shelf life or has been pulled from the nation's supply, making it safe for restaurants to serve romaine harvested after Nov. 23 outside the areas of Monterey, San Benito, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz and Ventura counties. Restaurant operators who aren't able to confirm that romaine lettuce was from unaffected sources should not purchase or consume it.

On Nov. 20, the FDA and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned the American public of a multi-state outbreak of E. coli O157: H7 linked to romaine lettuce and advised against eating any romaine lettuce on the market at that time. In total, 59 people from 15 states became sick after eating lettuce, the FDA said. 

On Nov. 20, the organization began working with romaine producers and distributors, who voluntarily withdrew romaine from the market to help contain the outbreak, while the agencies launched a traceback investigation to determine the source of the problem. 

Initially, the FDA warned the public not to eat romaine from Monterey, San Benito, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz and Ventura counties in California, while romaine producers and distributors voluntary agreed to label the product with its specific origin and harvest date.

A positive (for e.coli) sample from the reservoir used by Adam Bros. Farms came back as a genetic match to the strain that caused the sicknesses. As of Dec. 13, the FDA and CDC said its investigation revealed that five restaurants in four states had identified 11 distributors, nine growers and eight farms as potential sources of contaminated romaine lettuce. As of press time, the FDA had not confirmed the names of five restaurants affected. 

Currently, no single establishment was found to be in common across the supply chains, which the FDA said means that although it has identified a positive sample from one farm to date, the outbreak may not be explained by a single farm, grower, harvester or distributor.

As a result, the FDA said the findings on the Adam Bros. farm doesn't explain all the illnesses, so federal authorities are continuing their traceback investigation to narrow down commonalities between Adam Bros. operations and those of other farms in the investigation. 

While the analysis of the strain found in the people became  ill and the sediment in one of Adams Bros. farm's water sources was a genetic match, the traceback work suggested that additional romaine lettuce shipped from other farms could also likely be implicated in the outbreak and that farm's water supply doesn't fully explain the common source of the contamination. 

Romaine lettuce that was harvested outside of Monterey, San Benito and Santa Barbara Counties in California after Nov. 23 appeared to be free from the sources of the outbreak, the FDA said. Hydroponically- and greenhouse-grown romaine also was deemed outside the areas of possible e.coli sources, so it's safe to consume. As of Dec. 13, the FDA said 59 people in 15 states were identified as being sickened after eating the lettuce.