Last week, the Food and Drug Administration announced they had tracked down the source of this year's third E. coli outbreak fueled by romaine lettuce, which was first announced just before Thanksgiving. While federal investigators said they’re still determining which companies are involved, Adam Bros. Farms—the farm where investigators discovered traces of E. coli in an irrigation pond—has launched a new voluntary recall on even more of its produce "out of an abundance of caution."
California-based Adam Bros. Farming, Inc. released a statement last week that it would launch a voluntary recall which includes whole heads of cauliflower, red leaf lettuce, and green leaf lettuce, all harvested from November 27 to November 30. You can view the complete list of recalled products here.
The company has made it clear that none of these items have tested positive for E. coli, but since these veggies were grown near the tainted water source and potentially came in contact with it after harvesting, the farm is working with the FDA to launch this voluntary recall. However, none of the filtered or treated water has tested positive for E. coli contamination yet.
Per the latest count from the FDA, nearly 60 people have suffered from E. coli poisoning in 16 different states. There have been no reports of illness connected to cauliflower or any other non-romaine lettuce yet.
The FDA says that more illnesses related to this E. coli outbreak could be reported in the near future. They’re asking shoppers to continue avoiding romaine if they can't identify its origin, and has blacklisted romaine from Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Barbara counties. Since this outbreak began, the FDA has asked romaine growers to start labeling their products with a harvest date and location.
“If it does not have this information, you should not eat or use it,” the FDA writes in their release.
