A national recall of romaine lettuce that has sickened people with a rare strain of E. coli poisoning is another in a lengthy list of reminders that the nation’s food safety controls are inadequate. Improvement is needed.
The recall, which covers Tennessee, Georgia, 21 other states and the District of Columbia, is for lettuce primarily sold to food service and wholesale customers by a single distributor. The recall does not involve bagged or mixed lettuce in supermarkets, though it is possible, health officials say, that some of the contaminated product might have been used in salad bars. The recall is worrisome, both because it could cause illness or death and because it is another in a series of problems created by food-borne contaminants.
In recent years, reports of widespread illness and even deaths from contaminated foods — including meat, chicken, peanuts, peppers, cantaloupe, tomatoes and spinach — have prompted a series of recalls. That history, plus the present concern about romaine lettuce, strongly suggests that Congress should revisit and strengthen the nation’s food-safety regulations and enhance the Food and Drug Administration’s power to enforce them.
Long-delayed legislation to do both is moving through Congress, but it inexplicably has been delayed. Prompt consideration and discussion of the bill followed by approval would help safeguard the nation’s food chain and protect the health of Americans.
At least 19 people have been made ill in the current E. coli poisoning outbreak, and another 10 probable cases are being investigated by the Centers for Disease Control. The investigation is moving slowly. E. coli O145, the strain linked to the romaine lettuce, is more difficult to identify than the more common E. coli O157 implicated in many other food-borne illnesses. Only a handful of labs in the country, according to a CDC official, can do the test necessary to identify the less common strain.
The current outbreak appears to be on the wane and those made ill by the lettuce have recovered or are on the way to recovery without lasting effect. Officials, in fact, believe, but can’t be sure, that the worst is over since the “use by” date of the lettuce implicated in the E. coli outbreak has expired. Still, the outbreak should not be ignored; the next food-bone illness might not be so limited or so benign.
The recall of the romaine lettuce is both positive and negative evidence of a job well done. On the one hand, the FDA and businesses involved acted promptly to prevent widespread illness once it became evident that a dangerous food had reached the marketplace. In the best of worlds, however, the FDA should have the ability to prevent such foodstuffs from reaching consumers. Nothing can guarantee absolute safety in the nation’s food supply, but passage of a meaningful food safety bill would elevate standards and enhance disease prevention.