Multistate Outbreak of E. Coli O157:H7 Infections Linked to Romaine Lettuce

cdc.gov

19 pointstroydavis4 comments

About 90% of the United States' supply of lettuce in the winter comes from Yuma, Arizona [0].

I think it more appropriate for most people to eat seasonally-appropriate vegetables during the winter months, than to get a little lettuce from thousands of miles away. Winter squash, carrots, apples, and many other food products store very well in root cellars [1].

[0] http://www.visityuma.com/agritourism.html [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_cellar

How many people have root cellars? I'd guess it's a pretty small number of residences (e.g. definitely not folks in apartments).

Root cellars can be built anywhere food is grown. The Wikipedia page has pictures of very large buildings.

My point is that it's more efficient to eat locally-stored produce than to ship lettuce from Yuma to Maine in the winter.

How does this happen at wide spread scale? I understand that situations occur where birds could track in disease by landing in growing areas but it seems like a more substantial contamination to cause this many infections.

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