Romaine lettuce is not safe to eat, CDC warns U.S. consumers...

washingtonpost ^ | 11/20/2018 | washingtonpost

[caww]

Romaine lettuce is unsafe to eat in any form, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday in a broad alert in response to a new outbreak of illnesses caused by a particularly dangerous type of E. coli contamination.

The CDC told consumers to throw away any romaine lettuce they may already have purchased. Restaurants should not serve it, stores should not sell it, and people should not buy it, no matter where or when the lettuce was grown. It doesn’t matter if it is chopped, whole head or part of a mix. All romaine should be avoided.

[mewzilla]

https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/2018/o157h7-11-18/index.html

“Antibiotics are not recommended for patients with E. coli O157 infections. Antibiotics are also not recommended for patients in whom E.coli O157 infection is suspected, until diagnostic testing rules out this infection.
Some studies have shown that administering antibiotics to patients with E. coli O157 infections might increase their risk of developing hemolytic uremic syndrome (a type of kidney failure), and the benefit of antibiotic treatment has not been clearly demonstrated.”

Okaaaay....

[right way right]

The migrants poop in the back of the trucks where the lettuce is transported.

[KavMan]

Gees! Should I throw my lettuce away???!!!!!!!!!

[Vinnie]

Wash my lettuce in a diluted hydrogen peroxide solution.

I was just thinking about a 'wash' that would be effective.
Dilute bleach? impart an odor that would destroy using it?
Might do a little testing.

[Cold Heart]

Interesting. Thanks

[tiki]

I know but they have products that derive from sludge that meet criteria.

[BwanaNdege]

If you’ve ever lived in the ‘developing world’, you’re familiar with soaking your vegetables that are eaten raw in a dilute chlorine bleach solution, then rinsing them.

The British even have a product designed for this.

“Milton Sterilising Fluid”
https://www.milton-tm.com/en/consumer/kitchen

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/jun/01/safe-salad-e-coli-germany

“Stephen Vaughan, whose company All Food Hygiene has run food hygiene courses in the UK for 20 years, is less optimistic. “In the last decade there has been a rise in low-dosage organisms such as E coli, campylobacter and listeria. With salmonella, you need to eat millions of the bacteria to get ill, but with campylobacter you need only 500. Campylobacter is the number one cause of food poisoning in the UK.

“We have to be much more careful because we are importing so much more salad and vegetables from abroad. In the UK we have got rid of sewage in our rivers and our water is cleaner.”

While the experts say there is no need to worry, the FSA is advising people to wash vegetables that cannot be peeled or cooked. But is a quick splash enough? “The more you wash and soak, the greater the effect,” says Wilcox. “When I was a kid, my gran would always soak the salad in salty water as it is somewhat antibacterial.”

Vaughan is more cautious. “The most sensible way to wash vegetables at home is to use Milton Sterilising Fluid. You need to use a double sink method – one bowl with Milton diluted in water (as per the instructions), then put your fruit and vegetables in there for 20 minutes. Fill the other sink with tap water to wash off the chlorine. It leaves no taste and kills the bacteria.”

If all this is putting you off, Frankel says, comfortingly: “I will still have a salad today, and so will my children.”

[Cold Heart]

Drink kefir

[logi_cal869]

I don’t know about your state, but you may be confusing “organic” in the sense when they refer to bio-solids and “organic farming”.

Bio-solids are not utilized in organic agriculture in our state and, unless you can show me otherwise, anywhere else.

It would be blatant hypocrisy.

[gleeaikin]

The article also points out that one gets sick 3 to 4 days after eating contaminated greens. I wonder if they can be safe by cooking in soup or stew? Two people in Maryland I know have been sick with those symptoms, but not sick enough to be hospitalized. Maryland has had at least one reported case. I also heard a report about norovirus in that area.

[Yaelle]

We don’t have to go to Mexico any more to “not eat raw vegetables for fear of Montezuma’s Revenge.” It’s come to us!

[NYAmerican]

“I won’t click on WP links so I found another source. I suggest that others do likewise.”

Agree! How bout we stop posting revenue producing links to our mortal enemy?

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

The CDC must have Fabian socialists in their bureaucracy. Among other things, they believe that the global human population should be reduced to about 500M.

[Freedom'sWorthIt]

This was on my local news station tonight - WRAL.com

Had to toss two bags of romaine.

[Calvin Locke]

This e.coli variant can do a real hard number on the kidneys.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

It is preposterous to say that ALL romaine grown in the U.S. is affected. But the CDC just doesn’t understand where the outbreak is originating or it cause. This is similar to previous outbreaks where the source was never identified. So the CDC is issuing a blanket order for all romaine. They didn’t except backyard garden grown romaine which is just silly.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Please check back in with us tomorrow. Do you have next-of-kin we can check with in case you don’t make it back?

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Wow, you are right, except the CDC is saying to only clean drawers and shelves where the romaine was stored...

Wash and sanitize drawers or shelves in refrigerators where romaine was stored. Follow these five steps to clean your refrigerator.

This is particularly interesting (also from CDC)...

Advice to Clinicians

Antibiotics are not recommended for patients with E. coli O157 infections. Antibiotics are also not recommended for patients in whom E.coli O157 infection is suspected, until diagnostic testing rules out this infection.

Some studies have shown that administering antibiotics to patients with E. coli O157 infections might increase their risk of developing hemolytic uremic syndrome (a type of kidney failure), and the benefit of antibiotic treatment has not been clearly demonstrated.

So I guess you just wait it out and hope your kidneys are not attacked. Yikes.

[Eagles6]

https://www.gardenguides.com/96483-wash-fruits-vegetables-hydrogen-peroxide.html

[Trailerpark Badass]

Because those are usually not eaten raw?