Throw Away All Your Romaine Lettuce, CDC Warns U.S. Consumers
Oh my… another massive recall!
According to the CDC, due to an E. coli outbreak, consumers with any type of romaine lettuce in their home (or who plan to eat salads from outside of the home) should not eat it and should throw away any in the home immediately – even if some of it was eaten and no one has gotten sick.
This advice includes all types or uses of romaine lettuce, including:
- whole heads of romaine
- hearts of romaine
- bags and boxes of precut lettuce
- salad mixes that contain romaine
- baby romaine
- spring mix
- Caesar salad
If you don’t know if the lettuce is romaine or whether a salad mix contains romaine, don’t eat it and throw it out.
Wash and sanitize drawers or shelves in refrigerators where romaine was stored. Follow these five steps to clean your refrigerator.
Although there have not been any reported deaths, 32 people infected with the outbreak strain of Shiga toxin-producing E. coliO157:H7 have been reported from 11 states. Illnesses started on dates ranging from October 8, 2018, to October 31, 2018. Thirteen people were hospitalized, including one person who developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a type of kidney failure.
Because the FDA and states are working to trace back romaine lettuce that ill people ate in the current outbreak, at this time, no common grower, supplier, distributor, or brand of romaine lettuce has been identified.
From the CDC: Consumers should not eat any romaine lettuce, and restaurants and retailers should not sell any, until more is learned about this outbreak and the source of the contaminated lettuce.
If you have lettuce and you’re unsure of its type or origin, throw it out!
In similar news: Salmonella Outbreak Linked to Raw Turkey Grows (1 Person Dead, 164 Sickened)
Geez just when you think your making a healthy choice. Maybe I should eat candy instead
I’m with you. No one ever got food poisoning from Skittles!
great- had bagged salad with grilled chicken for dinner. Yes I like the candy idea
Is this happening more often? I feel like I’m always throwing out lettuce. Scary but also really annoying.
Ugh we had Greek salads tonight for dinner made with romaine. Of course I see notifications everywhere literally minutes after we were done eating.
Just bought Romaine Hearts today.
Me, too 🙁
Iceberg should still be fine, correct? Just had a huge salad for dinner but just want to make sure iceberg is not included
That was nice of you guys for sharing this. Thank you for the heads up.
You’re so welcome!
Thank you!
You bet!
I’m so glad I saw this! I just bought some about two hours ago for Thanksgiving. Thanks for the heads up!
You’re welcome!
Sooo if you throw it out and then go to the store and buy more, is that lettuce going to be bad too possibly?
The lettuce can be returned to the store. I know lots of people will scoff and roll their eyes at waiting in line to return such a possible small amt of $$. But at this time of yr. spend the 5 minutes to return it and drop it in the kettle for salvation army. Mist stores have them outside. U will be teaching the processors who are getting far to careless with our safety a lesson. Otherwise everything we throw away is still their profit !! U also feel good for a Christmas donation 😊
You make an excellent point!!!
Thank you for posting!
You’re welcome, Natalie!
Thank you for sharing
You’re welcome!
Wow I just bought some today! Gone now!!
I have packs of recalled turkey in my freezer, and now a whole drawer full.of recalled romaine. I give up, I’m getting McDonalds for the rest of the year.
This seems to happen all the time…ugh! burger king, pizza and candy. Then my teeth will fall out and i won’t have to worry about lettuce any way. Geez!!
😂
Thank you. I had not seen this warning. I read the news every day and there were 5 stories about a Sex in the City sequel but nothing about this E. coli contamination.
We went to Olive Garden for dinner and they were out of salad because they had to throw it all out!
So why are the stores still selling it?
The alert on the CDC website just came out at 2:30pm today.
Getting really scary to eat with all these recalls.
I agree! I better start growing everything myself. 🤦🏻♀️ Better stick with junk food then ugh
Hubby has been sick the past two days..has eaten salad mix those two days at work. The salad mix is from work. He’s off these next few days so if he’s good here we know that’s what it is. 😬
Oh no! Hoping he feels better soon!
Omg…no wonder why my daughter have diarea after eating salad I got from costco.
Oh bummer! SO sorry to hear that! Hoping you feel better soon!
See, chips and cupcakes never do this to us. Just saying.
LOL!
But it’s the end of November. Any salad a month old shouldn’t be consumed anyways.
All joking aside.. it was end of October?
Greeeeeeeat. I had a big Romaine salad a few days ago, thought I made the smart choice by buying a whole head and doing the work myself. Started feeling nauseated yesterday then i saw this!
So now I am afraid….and searching lettuce seeds. I’m growing my own next year! Tired of this recall crap!
And for what it’s worth, there is plenty of recalled crap food, mostly for salmonella. Cereals, Duncan Hines cake mixes, etc. Plus, y’all talking about McDonalds….remember their poop salads from August? Pass!
I started growing my own lettuce in containers since this. It’s a bit of work since you have to remember to seed start a new batch every 3-4 weeks for a continuous supply. It’s worth it since it tastes amazing when fresh and I don’t have to worry about such outbreaks.
Be sure to choose a variety that works with your weather such as slow bolting if you live somewhere hot or cold tolerant if you get very few frost nights in the winter. Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds offers free shipping to all of North America and has wide variety to choose from.
*since this past spring.
Thanks for all the seed info! I was container gardening for a bit at my old apartment, looks like I’ll have to start back up again!
No wonder shelf in Aldi was all empty just now when I tried to get some lettuce
This is disappointing to hear. I was skeptical about eating romaine lettuce after the first outbreak – which I did – and now there’s another one?! Thank you on updating all of us with health matters in too. I wouldn’t know about any recalls if it weren’t for you.
You’re very welcome, Richy! So glad to help!
Lettuce and spinach have a history of E coli contamination. Luckily, I live in an area that they are very easy to grow in the winter. So I know where my lettuce and spinach come from and don’t have to worry!
I guess we need to grow our own food then we won’t be dependent on the food producers for our safety. lettuce is easy to grow. maybe we should all just have small gardens and utilize our apartments and yards to their full potential. I have not actively had a garden in a few years but when I did it only took a few min a week to maintain. It was easy. The only reason I quit was I keep having babies it’s hard being pregnant with morning sickness taking care of plants. good luck everyone I hope everyone stays healthy.
Any way to get reimburse for what we throw out? Just bought at sams club. $8 worth. I live a hour from there otherwise I would just return it.
I wonder the same thing, I just purchased $20 worth of romaine for my party.
From walmart and some from Aldi.
I should take it back to the store. but is it unsafe?
Thanks for posting! Wasn’t aware of this recall (may explain why I’ve been sick the past two days after eating salad I recently bought). Of course with the holidays I just bought a boatload of lettuce mix- now I guess I have to throw it in the compost bin 🙁
Oh bummer! You’re welcome, Sarah! Hoping you feel better soon!
I need my money back. I don’t have receipts for this
I need my money back!! Can I just go to store and request for money back
I returned mine to Target today. As long as you have the credit card you used for the purchase you don’t need a receipt.