Yesterday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) Voice blog published an update regarding the romaine lettuce E. coli O157:H7 outbreak. The post, authored by FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D., and FDA’s Deputy Commissioner for Foods and Veterinary Medicine Stephen Ostroff, M.D., confirms that any contaminated romaine lettuce from the Yuma, AZ, growing region is no longer available for consumption at this point, eliminating any immediate risk of additional infections.
“Our efforts are complicated by the fact that romaine lettuce is a perishable commodity with a short shelf life of a couple of weeks.”