For your next dinner party, make sure you do not include romaine lettuce salad on the menu. Namely, according to the CDC and the FDA, this salad must not be consumed until investigators can find the exact cause of an E. coli outbreak which made 32 people from 11 states sick.
Make sure you discard it from your fridge and serve another green salad until things are cleared out.
For Now, Americans Should Avoid Romaine Lettuce
According to the CDC, all types of romaine lettuce, including precut lettuce, whole heads, and salad mixes which contain it, must not be consumed. Also, restaurants and retailers must not serve any type of salad or a salad mixture that contains this salad.
Individuals who experiences E. coli symptoms like diarrhea, vomiting, and strong stomach cramps after eating romaine lettuce, need to report to the health department and seek immediate medical help.
The health agencies also advise clinicians not to prescribe antibiotics to patients with E. coli O157 or to patients in who this infection is suspected until testing rules out the infection.
The symptoms of the E. coli begin after two to eight days after the first infection. In most cases, it manifests by diarrhea with blood, stomach cramps, and fever. Usually, it goes away within 5 to 7 days; however, 5 to 10 percent of infected individuals develop a potentially life threatening condition known as hemolytic uremic syndrome. The symptoms of this condition are the following ones:
- Belly ache
- Fatigue
- Low urination
- Bruises and bleeding without a reason
- Pallor
Though most of the patients who develop it recover within several weeks, there are some who may experience long-term damage and die. This is why immediately medical care is pivotal, as well as hospitalization as this infection may also cause acute renal failure, high blood pressure or neurologic issues.
What You Should Do Now?
For now, health agencies point out that the investigation is ongoing and more information will be released when available. Until then, all U.S. citizens must not consume romaine salad and to sanitize their fridges, drawers, and shelves were romaine salad with being kept.
Below, check out useful tips how to safely clean your fridge.
How to Clean Fridge after Food Recall
- Take out the food out of the fridge and put it in a sealed bag and throw it out
- If you kept the food in a reusable container, rinse it with soap and warm water before usage
- Empty out the whole fridge and wash the removable parts with warm water and soap
- Then, rub it well with a clean cloth
- Now, clean the inside parts of the fridge with warm water and soap and then wipe it dry with a clean cloth
- Put back the removable parts and the other foods into the fridge
- Clean any containers that you kept in the fridge with water and soap
- Once you are done, wash your hands with warm water and soap thoroughly
- Remember to wash the towels you have used for the cleaning
- Wipe the kitchen counters that you placed the food containers on
Not the First Salad-Related Food Outbreak
Salads making people sick is not new to the U.S. and Canada. Namely, this outbreak’s strain has a very similar DNA fingerprint to one from 2017 that had to do with leafy greens in the U.S. and romaine lettuce in Canada.
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