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Agencies respond to e. Coli outbreak
Story Date: 1/12/2018
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Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 1/11/18
After a storm of criticism from lawmakers and industry groups about a slow response to the latest E. coli outbreak, the FDA and the CDC both provided some details on Wednesday. The CDC said it was zeroing in on leafy greens as the potential culprit, but the contaminated products are probably no longer in the market. "Leafy greens typically have a short shelf life, and since the last illness started a month ago, it is likely that contaminated leafy greens linked to this outbreak are no longer available for sale," the CDC said in a release.
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb also chimed in with a reassuring tweet: "Illness onsets among reported cases occurred in late Nov & early Dec, so the source of these cases likely is no longer on the market."
What the response was: The CDC noted that it had identified infections in 15 states. Since CDC made its initial announcement on Dec. 28, the agency added seven more illnesses to its case, with the most recent one reported as having begun on Dec. 12.
As Pro Ag's Helena Bottemiller Evich has reported, the FDA has come under fire recently for serious deficiencies in its food-recall procedures. The agency on Wednesday also tried to explain what was going on.
"At this point, we have not identified a common or single point of origin for the food that made people ill," said the FDA statement. "We want to make sure the information we provide is accurate and when we have information that consumers can use - such as any foods to avoid - we will share it immediately."
Worries persist: Rep. Rosa DeLauro, who had sent a letter to CDC demanding answers, urged the government to complete its investigation quickly. Consumer Reports said on Wednesday that people should still avoid eating romaine lettuce because the bacteria could linger in places like contaminated equipment at a processing plant.
O, Canada: The Canadians have won praise for their rapid response. The Canadian government said Wednesday that it believed that a deadly E. coli outbreak there, which had killed at least two people, had passed.
The CDC acknowledged that Canada had identified romaine lettuce as the source of illnesses there, but the U.S. agency added that "the source of the romaine lettuce or where it became contaminated is unknown."
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