Don’t eat romaine lettuce, officials warn

Staff and wire report

YOUNGSTOWN

Everybody romaine calm — Valley grocery stores are taking romaine lettuce off the shelves after U.S. health officials warned of a new E. coli outbreak.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned consumers in the United States and Canada to throw out romaine lettuce, after 13 U.S. residents and six Canadian residents were hospitalized for E coli.

Giant Eagle on Belmont Avenue pulled the lettuce off of its shelves Tuesday after recall orders from its corporate headquarters. Drew Saluga, the assistant store manager, said there have been questions from customers about the outbreak, but no complaints.

“We always take recalls really seriously, especially if there’s health issues. It takes priority over everything else,” he said.

Customers didn’t seem fazed by news of the outbreak, presumingly having turkey, stuffing and gravy on their minds.

As Dianna Boyd, of Youngstown, perused the produce section of Giant Eagle on Wednesday afternoon, she said she will still be skeptical of romaine lettuce after health officials deem it safe to eat again.

The absence of the leafy green vegetable won’t affect her Thanksgiving dinner, but she liked using it for her salads. She switched to iceberg lettuce, because she doesn’t want to risk the children in her family getting sick over the holidays.

Kathie Tusaie, of Liberty, said she and her husband threw out all their romaine lettuce after hearing news of the outbreak.

“Romaine is really my favorite green for a salad, but it’s not big deal,” she said. “We just switched to another one.”

Since there was a similar E. coli outbreak in romaine lettuce last year, Tusaie said she probably won’t continue to eat it even after it’s deemed safe — especially because the origin of the outbreak isn’t exactly clear.

Rulli Bros. store manager Joe Richards on Kirk Road in Austintown said the lettuce was taken off the shelves Tuesday. The store won’t sell romaine until “we get the OK,” he said.

“Something like that is a concern for everyone’s health and safety. We take it extremely seriously,” he said. There haven’t been complaints from customers, he said.

Brian Wolf of North Jackson said he will temporarily stop eating romaine lettuce, but he trusts the outbreak will be securely contained.

“If it’s been recalled, they aren’t going to put it back out there if they know it isn’t safe,” he said.

No deaths have been reported in the current outbreak. The last reported U.S. illness was on Oct. 31, while the most recent illness in Canada was early this month.

The romaine lettuce linked to the E. coli outbreak earlier this year was from Yuma, Ariz. Tainted irrigation water appeared to be the source of that outbreak, which sickened about 200 people and killed five.

Thankfully, health officials aren’t warning people not to eat turkey, so today’s Thanksgiving dinner shouldn’t be affected.