E-Coli and Pre-cut Greens. Oh boy another thing to worry about.

We have discussed E.-coli poisoning in this blog, often in the context of ground beef. http://www.maryland-law.com/blog/e-coli-and-food-safety.cfm Now our friends at the washington Post have put out an article concerning arecent outbreak of E.-coli in pre-cut romaine lettuce.

The Post reports that 23 people have been made ill by an outbreak of E. coli in pre-cut lettuce distributed in the District of Columbia and 23 other states.

In recent years there have been far more extensive outbreaks including one that killed 5 people and sickened another 238. That involved Dole bagged spinach.

The inevitable question, why pre-cut lettuce? The answer seems to be that the field-based trimming or coring process can bring the saleable interior leaves into contact with soil that maybe contaminated with E. coli bacteria.

The solution..well maybe washing the pre-cut greens is as important as washing uncut lettuce or vegetables.