As we anticipated, the E. coli contaminated romaine lettuce recall has broadened.  Some people are worried that the E. coli outbreak might be a terrorist act.

Vaughan Foods of Moore, Oklahoma, has issued a recall of romaine lettuce with “use by” dates of May 9 through May 10.  The recall is for lettuce sold to restaraunts and the food service industry.

However, as I mentioned in Saturday’s post here, I became ill from eating romaine lettuce purchased in Arkansas from either Wal-Mart or Sam’s Club, so the recall is still not broad enough.

Note the “use by” dates on the lettuce under recall.  It is possible if not likely that the FDA is working with Wal-Mart to contain the recall until the tainted lettuce expires in order to protect the retail giant from taking costly action.  Also notice that today’s CNN report makes no mention of the Sysco recall linked to in my last post.

The FDA still claims that only 19 people limited to Ohio, Michigan and New York became ill because of the E. Coli 0145 outbreak.  E. coli 0145 is not normally tracked by the FDA and the current, potentially life threatening outbreak is considered novel.

A sickened Ohio State University freshman is suing Freshway Foods and his lawyer disputes the FDA’s information.

Freshman Richard Cardinale filed a lawsuit after his stool sample tested positive for E. coli O145, according to court documents. He suffered from gastrointestinal problems including bloody diarrhea and dehydration and was hospitalized on April 14 for treatment.

Food safety lawyer Bill Marler, who is representing Cardinale, said the E. coli O145 outbreak may have sickened as many as 59 people.

“We have a new form of deadly E. coli to contend with. It is past time for the government and industry to track this bug as it does E. coli O157:H7,” said Marler, referring to the best known form of toxic E. coli.

The contaminated lettuce is believed to have originated from a Yuma, Arizona, farm.

Authorities are investigating a farm near Yuma, Arizona, where the tainted lettuce was harvested, the Food and Drug Administration said. Vaughan Foods received lettuce from that farm, the administration said.

Yuma, Arizona, is located on the Mexican border and the E. coli outbreak has intensified the illegal immigration debate.  This controversy is reflected in the comment sections of many articles reporting the E. coli outbreak. Some people are worried that the food contamination is a direct result of illegal immigration itself as described in this CNN comment.

Yuma Arizona is where more illegal Mexicans cross into the country than any other border location. The Colorado River separates Mexico from the U.S. there and daily crossings of hundreds of illegals takes place every day. It is not unusal so see small groups of illegals going potty among the many farms there as they make their way to the U.S. We see groups of alleged illegals carrying AK-47s walking along the railroad tracks. The new food terrorist.

Another angry commenter accuses migrant field workers.

by wyodutch May 7, 2010 5:49 PM EDT
E-coli on lettuce comes from one thing only… fecal material.
.
You think the lettuce-picker from Mexico (who never saw an indoor toilet until he jumped the border)… is gonna run to the outhose when nature calls? Of course not…they squat in the lettuce patch and the Gringo dines on the tainted lettuce.
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There you are… good, hardworking people from Mexico… just doing “jobs” that Americans won’t do.

According to Salinas, California, television station KCBA, large numbers of illegal immigrants migrate to Yuma, Arizona, to work as farmhands on winter crops.

A majority of ag workers are illegal immigrants. Most of them migrate to Yuma, Arizona for winter crops.

Yuma is the source for much of the nation’s winter lettuce crop.

The recall only applies to romaine lettuce with “best if used by” date before or on May 12, when Freshway Foods stopped buying its romaine from Yuma, Beer said.

Officials in Arizona also confirmed the investigation. Laura Oxley, a spokeswoman for Arizona’s agriculture and health departments, said federal officials contacted them and told them they suspected the source of the E. coli outbreak was lettuce grown in the state. She said there were no additional shipments to stop because the winter lettuce season has mostly ended for the year.

The Yuma area is the source of much of the nation’s winter lettuce crop, but farmers switch to other crops at the end of winter.

E. coli bacteria occurs in human excrement, so the contaminated lettuce came in contact with fecal matter and the contamination almost certainly occurred at farm level.

“Experience tells us that the point of contamination is likely at the farm level, which can then be spread during the entire processing chain,” Allen said.

The E. coli outbreak occurs in the middle of heated debates regarding a recently passed Arizona law which aims to take action against illegal immigration within that state. Enforcement of that law will begin this summer.

Some people are worried that the E. coli outbreak might be an act of terrorism in direct retaliation against the Arizona legislation.

by myassss May 9, 2010 11:54 PM EDT
Couldn’t possibly be retaliation for the recent law passed in Az?
I agree with desertdwellr, FBI investigate and bring about terrorist charges to those involved!

Last Sunday, I posted that I had been very ill for about a week with E. coli food poisoning.  My wife and I had already isolated romaine lettuce as the illness vector at the time of that post.

Four days later, the FDA reported an E. coli outbreak in several states due to tainted romaine lettuce sold by Freshway Foods.  Arkansas, where I live, was not among the list of states where shredded romaine lettuce was being recalled, although the recall was broadened significantly yesterday.  Also, the romaine lettuce that made me sick was not shredded.  It was either organic romaine lettuce from Wal-Mart or part of a six-pack of romaine lettuce obtained from Sam’s Club.

Consequently, it is probable that the scope of E. coli contaminated romaine lettuce is larger than what the FDA is currently reporting.

The predominate symptom that I suffered was significant pain throughout much of my large intestine.  I had a bout of diverticulitis several years ago and the abdominal tenderness was very similar.  However, the pain from the recent food poisoning was spread over a much larger area.

Lettuce becomes contaminated with E. coli bacteria when brought into contact with fecal matter.  This commonly occurs in third world countries like Mexico where human and animal waste is often used as fertilizer.  However, there have been reports of E. coli tainted crops originating in the U.S..  This is commonly believed to be the result of inadequate toilet facilities for migrant fieldworkers.

In any case, I can tell you from personal experience that you don’t want to catch this illness.  I could barely get out of bed for several days and my wife constantly urged me to go to the hospital.  Fortunately, the symptoms eventually abated and I did not have to seek medical treatment.

Is it coming to a time in the United States when we have to treat our food like we live in Cambodia or Somalia, soaking our lettuce in bleach?  The FDA does not appear to be useful as demonstrated by the fact that E. coli food-borne illnesses were virtually unheard of in the U.S. when I was a child.  And don’t forget that I became sick with E. coli in an area of the country still outside the scope of the FDA’s current recall — and I became sick nearly two weeks before the FDA said anything about an E. coli lettuce outbreak.

Also recall the FDA’s recent tomato ban that cost the American tomato industry millions of dollars only for the FDA to later discover that the outbreak was actually due to Salmonella-tainted, Mexican-grown Jalapeno peppers.

The best remedy is to simply not trust the government’s ability or inclination to provide adequate food safety.  Buy locally produced food, or, better yet, raise your own vegetables and farm animals or purchase foods produced by your friends.  With the exception of lettuce and a few other items, we buy a large portion of our fresh food locally or raise our own food.  Lettuce was the exception.  It appears we’ll have to reconsider our lettuce sources now.

Although I did not enjoy being sick, it is good that I became ill rather than our little children where E. coli can be a much graver infection.