Third World America: Nation Hit with E. coli Outbreak, Thanks to Contaminated Romaine Lettuce, and Corrupt Record Keeping

By “W”

“‘The one thing we can confirm is that all the romaine lettuce that made people ill was shipped by distributors from Yuma. That’s why we are advising people to ask their grocer or restaurateur where their romaine lettuce came from and avoid it if it’s from Yuma or if they don’t know the source,’ a spokesperson for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday evening.

“‘At this point, we don’t have concrete evidence to any one grower or farm. Once we do, we will name them.”

“Part of the problem in identifying the source of the romaine is the lack of traceability coding on the leafy green. Federal law requires entities in the food chain to maintain records one step forward and one step back from their own operations. That leaves epidemiologists and other outbreak investigators stuck in a quagmire of stair steps leading from one entity to the next in the supply chain.

[The foregoing paragraph involves a non sequitur in its last sentence. If entities are obeying the law, and maintaining one-step-forward-one-step-back records, it shouldn’t be difficult to retrace where the contaminated romaine lettuce has been. Someone is either breaking the law, or someone refuses to report on who the bad guys are.]

“Traceability labeling and coding, such as that developed by the Produce Traceability Initiative, would mean finished product sent to retailers and foodservice operations could be traced back through the supply chain virtually immediately. Many fresh produce companies have not adopted the voluntary traceability labeling.”

[That couldn’t have anything to do with it being “voluntary,” now could it? Kind of like e-verify?]

At Food Safety News.