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CDC Food Safety Alert: E. Coli Outbreak Linked to Romaine Lettuce

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Re: CDC Food Safety Alert: E. Coli Outbreak Linked to Romaine Lettuce

#31

Post by wild_preference »

chiefalchemist wrote: post #30
elipsey wrote: post #29

The offending strain in both the current outbreak, and a major outbreak in June, is E. coli O157:H7, which is a less common strain typically associated with cattle or other livestock.[1] CDC analysis (also helpfully linked by craftyguy) of the previous outbreak of this strain, which hospitalized or killed people in 36 states, found that the source was contaminated canal water used for irrigation near Yuma AZ.[2] A la…

Long to short, the "pollution" from large scale factory animal farming is poisoning the downstream vegetable farming. Is that it? Given the disconnect between the FDA and the EPA can't the CDC step in? Is there no authority at the state level?

Is anyone on our side here in a world where ag-gag laws exist?

Re: CDC Food Safety Alert: E. Coli Outbreak Linked to Romaine Lettuce

#32

Post by Merad »

SubiculumCode wrote: post #28
garysahota93 wrote: post #22

It seems like this happens all the time. I really wonder what the implications of this will be to companies like Chipotle, who use Romaine Lettuce exclusively. Personally, I am more of a fan of Iceberg, but it just makes me wonder why E. Coli is much more common in Romaine than in Iceberg. Any thoughts?

I wonder if there could be a good tech solution where lettuce samples would be tested s part of the packaging pipeline.

I think the fundamental problem is that these bacteria are detected by growing a sample, which takes a day or longer.

Re: CDC Food Safety Alert: E. Coli Outbreak Linked to Romaine Lettuce

#33

Post by ryukafalz »

stcredzero wrote: post #8

The other day, my wife introduced me to yet another difference between Chinese cuisine and US cuisine: She cooked the Romaine lettuce she got from her coworker. She just cooked it like you'd cook Bok Choy. It was quite good! My wife also rinses everything we get from the store. No one is to be trusted with your family's food. Absolutely everything is rinsed, including things most Americans would really rather not. On…

>Absolutely everything is rinsed

Don't rinse raw meat. It makes things worse!

https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/food-safety...

Re: CDC Food Safety Alert: E. Coli Outbreak Linked to Romaine Lettuce

#34

Post by elipsey »

chiefalchemist wrote: post #30
elipsey wrote: post #29

The offending strain in both the current outbreak, and a major outbreak in June, is E. coli O157:H7, which is a less common strain typically associated with cattle or other livestock.[1] CDC analysis (also helpfully linked by craftyguy) of the previous outbreak of this strain, which hospitalized or killed people in 36 states, found that the source was contaminated canal water used for irrigation near Yuma AZ.[2] A la…

Long to short, the "pollution" from large scale factory animal farming is poisoning the downstream vegetable farming. Is that it? Given the disconnect between the FDA and the EPA can't the CDC step in? Is there no authority at the state level?

I don't know. Evidence is inconclusive, but suggestive.

I'm throwing out my lettuce like CDC told me to, but I woundn't go pointing fingers on twitter just yet. :)

Re: CDC Food Safety Alert: E. Coli Outbreak Linked to Romaine Lettuce

#35

Post by Godel_unicode »

ransom1538 wrote: post #27
garysahota93 wrote: post #22

It seems like this happens all the time. I really wonder what the implications of this will be to companies like Chipotle, who use Romaine Lettuce exclusively. Personally, I am more of a fan of Iceberg, but it just makes me wonder why E. Coli is much more common in Romaine than in Iceberg. Any thoughts?

Forcing workers to drag a "porta potty" through lettuce fields so farmers don't have to pay for the restroom breaks could be causing this. http://crownservicesco.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Ag-and...

Outrage notwithstanding, the last couple of these have been caused by water contaminated with animal feces.

Re: CDC Food Safety Alert: E. Coli Outbreak Linked to Romaine Lettuce

#36

Post by ip26 »

craftyguy wrote: post #10
pkaye wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The way the leaves are bunched together makes it hard to clean. And secondly it is not cooked before eating.

That's a property of most (all?) lettuces, but here we are with two romaine-related instances in 5 months.

Apparently Romaine is grown in exactly two places, one for summer and one for winter.

Re: CDC Food Safety Alert: E. Coli Outbreak Linked to Romaine Lettuce

#37

Post by VectorLock »

selimthegrim wrote: post #14
jaggederest wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interestingly enough, bean sprouts are eaten raw, are not (thoroughly) cleaned before eating, and must be, by definition, held at an unsafe temperature to sprout. They also cause a bunch of foodborne illness. I think it's a pretty clear connection.

I blanch bean sprouts before freezing them for storage and then toss them in something I’m frying or boiling. Seems to work for me.

So you eat them not raw.

Re: CDC Food Safety Alert: E. Coli Outbreak Linked to Romaine Lettuce

#38

Post by VectorLock »

ransom1538 wrote: post #27
garysahota93 wrote: post #22

It seems like this happens all the time. I really wonder what the implications of this will be to companies like Chipotle, who use Romaine Lettuce exclusively. Personally, I am more of a fan of Iceberg, but it just makes me wonder why E. Coli is much more common in Romaine than in Iceberg. Any thoughts?

Forcing workers to drag a "porta potty" through lettuce fields so farmers don't have to pay for the restroom breaks could be causing this. http://crownservicesco.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Ag-and...

If I was a farm worker I wouldn't be too upset about not having to go perhaps a long ways to use a restroom and be able to clean my hands afterwards.

Re: CDC Food Safety Alert: E. Coli Outbreak Linked to Romaine Lettuce

#40

Post by VectorLock »

ryukafalz wrote: post #33
stcredzero wrote: post #8

The other day, my wife introduced me to yet another difference between Chinese cuisine and US cuisine: She cooked the Romaine lettuce she got from her coworker. She just cooked it like you'd cook Bok Choy. It was quite good! My wife also rinses everything we get from the store. No one is to be trusted with your family's food. Absolutely everything is rinsed, including things most Americans would really rather not. On…

>Absolutely everything is rinsed Don't rinse raw meat. It makes things worse! https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/food-safety...

Spoilers: Its not making things worse. It just provides an avenue for cross contamination, which you should be accounting for when preparing meat anyways.
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