Freshway Lettuce E. coli Spotlights Yuma
In 2007, National Public Radio did a feature story about the burgeoning winter lettuce industry in Yuma, Arizona.
The kicker to the story was that unlike the Salinas Valley in California, home to the majority of summer-grown leafy green produce -- the Yuma area was free of lettuce E. coli problems. The story quoted Kurt Nolte, then a University of Arizona professor, as saying E. coli in lettuce had not been detected in 100 years of growing leafy greens in Yuma.
All that could change if the Food and Drug Administration confirms its suspicion that an outbreak of E. coli O145 in Michigan, Ohio and New York was caused by romaine harvested on a Yuma farm. The key to the investigation will be to determine not only where the lettuce was grown, but if it was tainted in the field, at handling stations in Yuma, at the Freshway Foods processing plant in Ohio or en route by truck.
So far, investigators have confirmed 19 E. coli O145 infections and 10 more people are being counted as probable cases in this Freshway lettuce E. coli outbreak. Three of the victims have developed life-threatening hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) and the group of infected persons includes K-12 students from Wappingers Falls, New York.
Food safety law firm Pritzker Olsen has been in contact with victims of the outbreak and is providing free consultations to anyone affected by it. An E. coli attorney can be reached at 1-888-377-8900 (Toll Free) or by completing the contact form on the side of this Web page.
The winter lettuce season in Yuma typically runs from November through March or early April. Ohio-based Freshway has said the batch of lettuce that it recalled as part of the E. coli outbreak was harvested at the tail end of the season in Yuma.
Located in Arizona's southwestern desert, Yuma drew 50,000 people in January to the 12th annual Yuma Lettuce Days celebration. The festival celebrates the area's $700 million-a-year agriculture business, which is irrigated by the Colorado River.
The sponsors of the event included Taylor Farms, BLT Companies and Doug Mellon Farms Inc.
