Last week, consumers and businesses across the country were warned to toss out any romaine lettuce they suspect might be from Yuma. An E. coli outbreak from romaine grown in that area has made more than 50 people in 16 states sick, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Yuma region grows most of the romaine lettuce sold in the United States in the winter season. When the season ends in early April, lettuce production shifts to California.
Jeremy Vanderzyl, the technical services manager at Duncan Family Farms, which has a lettuce farm in Yuma, talked about what growers in the region already do to make sure the safest food makes it out to consumers.
Vanderzyl said he’s not sure the growers would be absorbing the cost of all the lettuce being tossed out.
The investigation into the outbreak is still ongoing. In the meantime, the CDC is advising anyone buying romaine lettuce to double check where it was grown.