Here is what I know: For seven weeks now, people in Canada and the United States have been coming down with a serious infection caused by E coli O157:H7. There are 58 known victims total, with over 20 of them in the States, and there are 13 states involved, mostly in the Northeast part of the United States. One person has died in each country and several have been hospitalized with hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS).

Using PFGE techniques, it appears the strains in the U.S. and Canada are exactly the same, meaning it is very likely they have the same source given the time frame of illnesses.

Consumer Reports warned us in the first week of January not to eat romaine lettuce based on what they were seeing and what was being reported.

The FDA and CDC have said nothing about the source except that whole genome sequencing is being done to see of our outbreak is linked to Canada’s.

Here is what the Canadians know: The source is romaine lettuce.

On December 14 the Canadian government told its citizens to use an alternate source for the green leafy veggie fix as the outbreak was linked to romaine lettuce.

Here is what I do not know: Why doesn’t the FDA put two and two together, come up with four, and say something, say anything about this outbreak? People are buying and consuming what apparently is contaminated romaine lettuce totally unaware of the potential risk.

At the very least they could advise consumers of the potential risk, and advise them to properly handle and rinse romaine lettuce until they know for certain.

If the outbreak is limited to the Northeast sector of our country and the nearby population of Canada, why can’t some regionalization of the source be accomplished? There are enough victims to have a pretty good base for epidemiological investigations to reach conclusions.

The spinach outbreak of 2006 took just a few weeks to identify the source down to the very farm.

And when the FDA does finally come to the inevitable conclusion that romaine is the culprit, why won’t they demand a recall and tell us the stores selling the contaminated product?

FDA lobbied very hard to get mandatory authority for recalls when the FSMA was being constructed and they got it. But in seven years, they have only mandated a recall twice, and we have recently seen how that is working out with people mail ordering products that had been recalled months before.

And they withhold naming stores where contaminated products were sold claiming corporate confidentiality.

While I do not know for sure, I do think the FDA knows a whole lot more than they are telling us; at least I hope they do.

Tossed salad: To romaine or not to romaine

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