Personal Injury Law

Does the E. coli outbreak affect your lettuce?

The Illinois product liability attorneys at Levin & Perconti realize that our readers are likely worrying about whether the lettuce they have bought is safe to eat, due to the recent E. coli outbreak and recalls. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has expanded the E. coli outbreak to four states ? the outbreak involves potentially deadly food-borne illness linked to tainted lettuce. The E. coli outbreak has sickened at least twenty-three people in four states, but luckily, no deaths have been reported. According to a recent CNN.com article, the current product recall involves companies that distribute lettuce supplies to wholsesale and food service outlets. Experts suggest you abstain from eating lettuce at salad bars because of the fact that this current recall involves the lettuce distributed wholesale. Additionally, salad bars generally have the potential for more contact with lots of hands and people.

Grocery store whole lettuce is relatively safe, according to the expert consulted by CNN.com. Freshway Foods and Vaughan Foods have issued a product recall for bagged lettuce products. Production practices, harvesting, packing, processing, and food handling have all been linked to illnesses associated with leafy greens.

The Food and Drug Administration has offered food safety tips to assist in food safety. 1) Clean ?make sure you wash your hands and everything else that comes into contact with good, including utensils, countertops, and tableware. 2) Separate ? keep uncooked food from contaminating other food with dangerous bacteria. 3) Cook ? keep food safety by cooking it thoroughly. 4) Chill ? keep foods cold and chill leftovers quickly.

Click this link to read more about the E. coli outbreak and how it affects your lettuce.

Full post as published by Illinois Injury Lawyer Blog on May 21, 2010 (boomark / email).