For everyone avoiding romaine since the fall, when the CDC tweeted "do not eat any romaine lettuce", good news: the scare seems to be over. The CDC announced earlier this week that the E. coli outbreak, which infected 62 people, is officially over.
The CDC announced the update on its website:
"CDC, public health and regulatory officials in several states, Canada, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigated a multistate outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O157:H7 (E. coli O157:H7) infections linked to romaine lettuce from the Central Coastal growing regions in northern and central California. This outbreak appears to be over."
The outbreak was reported from 16 states and Washington D.C. from a two-month period, October 7, 2018 to December 4, 2018. Of the 62 people affected, 25 were hospitalized and two developed kidney failure, but no one died. (Unlike the romaine recall in early 2018, in which 5 deaths were reported.)
Romaine harvested from the Central Coast of California seems to be the culprit.
Hopefully no new recalls spike during the government shutdown, as the FDA reported earlier this week that they won't be moving forward with routine inspections.
