News and Stories

Markon is currently convening with industry partners, including the Produce Marketing Association (PMA), United Fresh Produce Association, and the California and Arizona Leafy Green Marketing Agreement and will provide next steps to Markon members as soon as possible.

• Information collected to date indicates that chopped romaine lettuce from the Yuma, Arizona growing region could be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 and could make people sick.
  • At this time, no common grower, supplier, distributor, or brand has been identified.
• Advice to Consumers:
  • Consumers anywhere in the United States who have store-bought chopped romaine lettuce at home, including salads and salad mixes containing chopped romaine lettuce, should not eat it and should throw it away, even if some of it was eaten and no one has gotten sick. If you do not know if the lettuce is romaine, do not eat it and throw it away.
  • Before purchasing romaine lettuce at a grocery store or eating it at a restaurant, consumers should confirm with the store or restaurant that it is not chopped romaine lettuce from the Yuma, Arizona growing region. If you cannot confirm the source of the romaine lettuce, do not buy it or eat it.
• Advice to Restaurants and Retailers:
  • Restaurants and retailers should not serve or sell any chopped romaine lettuce, including salads and salad mixes containing chopped romaine lettuce, from the Yuma, Arizona growing region.
  • Restaurants and retailers should ask their suppliers about the source of their chopped romaine lettuce.
• CDC, public health and regulatory officials in several states, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are investigating a multistate outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O157:H7 (E. coliO157:H7) infections.
• Thirty-five people infected with the outbreak strain of E. coliO157:H7 have been reported from 11 states.
  • Twenty-two people have been hospitalized, including three people who have developed a type of kidney failure called hemolytic uremic syndrome.
  • No deaths have been reported.
• This investigation is ongoing, and CDC will provide updates when more information is available.

Click here to review is the CDC public notice.

Markon will continue to update members when more information becomes available.

Lianna Kelly

Food Safety Director

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