Scott Gottlieb, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner, says romaine lettuce with E. coli concerns appears to be from growers in California. Gottlieb stated the growing and harvesting patterns are what led investigators to California. “The goal now is to withdraw the product that’s at risk of being contaminated from the market, and then re-stock the market,” he said on Twitter. But Gottlieb said California isn’t the only state growing romaine lettuce, citing Florida and Arizona as other state producers who are just now coming close to harvest.
The commissioner said he plans to work with growers on how to label products moving forward, a change he wants to be permanent. Gottlieb states growers and distributors will start labeling produce with the location where it was grown and the harvest date, and the FDA may require other indicating factors to put on labels to make it clear to consumers the lettuce is, “post-purge” as he calls it. “We want to help unaffected growers get back into production and enable stores and consumers to re-stock,” Gottlieb wrote.
He said the new labeling process would help improve identification and traceability in the system.
U.S. health officials have been telling consumers for over a week to avoid eating romaine lettuce because of an E. coli outbreak that has sickened 32 people in 11 states. The Food and Drug Administration says it’s working with officials in Canada, where people are also being warned to stay away from romaine lettuce. The strain identified is different than the one linked to romaine earlier this year, but it appears similar to one linked to leafy greens last year.
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