U.S. & Canada: Don't Eat Any Romaine Lettuce

Romaine lettuce comes to mind as an ingredient in the Caesar salad. The Caesar Salad gets its name from the place it was originally made, the Hotel Caesar in Tijuana, Mexico. I had a chance to visit that Hotel when it had a restaurant that served that salad. The best I ever had. The restaurant later closed and was replaced by a fast food burger place.

I had visited San Diego and took the trolley to San Ysidro border crossing. Always made a point  to use bottled water and never eat anything off a street food cart. I guess with drug cartels and immigrant caravans, not some place I go out of my way to wander around these days.

Anyway the health advisory is  still on. For perspective 32 people were infected with e.coli, 13 hospitalized, no deaths.

Link goes to the CDC website.

Outbreak of E. coli Infections Linked to Romaine Lettuce | E. coli Infections Linked to Romaine Lettuce | November 2018…

It's difficult to know where to take a stance in situations like this.  On the one hand we read about how youngsters today are more prone to allergies, and have less robust immune systems because they 'don't eat enough dirt'.  Then we read that supermarket trolley handles, and toilet doors etc. are not great things to touch.

12 Hot Spots for Germs and Bacteria: A Healthy Home Guide | Fitness Magazine

You might be familiar with super-vet Noel Fitzpatrick who creates bionic animals from his animal hospitals in the UK.  This week we saw  an episode where a dog that had had a shattered leg rebuilt, developed secondary infection, weeks after a successful operation, by 'licking the wound'.  Noel  told the dog's owner that dogs have a 100 different types of bacteria in their mouths!  Now I had always thought that animals 'cleaned' their wounds by licking them, but suddenly I'm having to rethink letting a dog lick your face.

Hey, I've just remembered a very similar story we had just last year:

Contaminated salad recalled, harmful to children and elderly | Stuff.co.nz