Arizonans Sickened Due To Tainted Lettuce

Published: Tuesday, April 17, 2018 - 5:36pm
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The Arizona Department of Health Services confirmed three Arizonans have been sickened with E. coli.

Jessica Rigler, spokesperson for the department, said their illness became known at the end of March. “At this time it appears the outbreak is associated with chopped romaine lettuce, and a lot of the preliminary epidemiologic data indicates that the chopped romaine lettuce is coming from the Yuma, Arizona growing region,” she said.

Rigler added the tainted lettuce was grown in the winter but can’t be pinned down to a particular brand name. She said the state is working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to get to the bottom of the outbreak.

Arizona is the nation’s second-largest grower of lettuce in the U.S., after California. Yuma County grows 90 percent of leafy greens for the entire country from November through March.