First Lettuce Recall of 2010
Unfortunately for consumers, terrorists do not need to strike at America’s food supply – E.coli is being introduced into the food supply without their help. With the advent of Spring comes the first lettuce recall of the season. The following story was published today in The Columbus Dispatch as a follow-up to a story yesterday:
Freshway recalls lettuce linked to E. coli outbreak
Friday, May 7, 2010 2:53 AM
By Misti Crane
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Federal investigators continue to look for the original source of contaminated lettuce sold by an Ohio company and linked to the outbreak of E. coli 0145 that has sickened at least 20 people in Columbus, Michigan and New York.
Freshway Foods of Sidney (Ohio) issued a recall of products containing romaine lettuce yesterday. The recall does not apply to bagged or unpackaged lettuce sold in grocery stores, according to the company, which sells a variety of pre-cut fruits and vegetables and salad mixes.
Officials from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration wouldn't name any specific farms under investigation yesterday. Previous investigation of outbreaks involving leafy greens "lead us to believe that the point of contamination is at the farm," spokesman Ira Allen said.
Click to read the complete story from the Columbus Dispatch.
As Pogo once said, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” It’s clear that some new “best practices” for growing and processing fresh lettuce and other vegetables need to be developed and instituted everywhere.