When Can I Eat Romaine Lettuce?
The CDC is still finding people who developed E. coli associated with romaine lettuce : there were 12 more this week, bringing the total to 149 and one death. But chances are, the salad in your grocery store is probably safe.
That’s because all of the problem salad came from the growing region of Yuma, Arizona. Yuma County supplies 90 percent of the country’s greenery in winter … but it’s spring now. A spokesman for the Arizona Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement said the last batch of the novel was shipped from Yuma on April 16, 2018.
The FDA noted that depending on how it’s packaged, the novel can have a shelf life of up to 21 days. This indicates that the last tainted salad has expired. If you check the expiration date, you are probably safe.
However, be careful
But your safety is not guaranteed. Maybe the restaurant is making a salad right now , which is only two days after the date because it still looks good. Maybe more E. coli can be found outside of Yuma. You will never know.
The CDC still advises us to throw away any salad unless we’re sure it’s not romaine. (If you can’t tell the difference between salads, you should get rid of everything. It’s good to know your leafy greens .) Here’s what the CDC recommends you do:
Consumer advice:
- Do not eat or buy romaine lettuce unless you can confirm that it is not from the Yuma region. Romaine lettuce has a shelf life of several weeks, and contaminated lettuce can still be found in homes, shops and restaurants.
- Growing regions are often not indicated on product labels; So, don’t eat or buy romaine lettuce if you don’t know where it was grown.
- This tip includes whole heads and hearts of romaine, chopped romaine, baby romaine, organic romaine, and salads and salad mixes containing romaine lettuce. If you don’t know if the salad in the salad mix is romaine, don’t eat it.
So why is the CDC still finding new cases? This does not mean that people are still sick. There is a delay between when you eat your salad and when you get sick, and then another delay until you see your doctor and he contacts the CDC. In total, they expect a two to three week delay. At the moment, the last known disease began on April 25, that is, two weeks ago. It is likely that more cases will appear as the outbreak ends.