Outbreak News
Food Safety Advocates Speak Out about E. coli O157:H7 Outbreak
For Immediate ReleaseOctober 9, 2003
SAN DIEGO—The San Diego County Health Department announced yesterday that commercial bagged lettuce mix was the source of sixteen cases of potential E. coli O157:H7 in San Diego, and four cases in Orange County. The product was used in salads at Pat & Oscar’s restaurants, as well as in school lunches in San Diego County.
Contaminated lettuce was the source of an outbreak in the Pacific Northwest in the summer of 2002. Over 50 high school girls attending a dance camp at Eastern Washington University were sickened as a result of consuming the contaminated lettuce. Some suffered severe complications of their infections, and were hospitalized with Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome, or HUS.
“Clearly, there is a problem when our public schools and universities are serving contaminated product,” said William Marler, the Seattle attorney best known for successful representation of E. coli victims, who represents several people sickened in last year’s E. coli outbreak. “The lettuce didn’t get contaminated by itself. Somewhere, whether it was on the farm or during the production process, the lettuce came in contact with fecal matter. Now that lettuce is being served to our kids through the USDA’s National School Lunch Program. It’s disgusting.”
Continue reading Food Safety Advocates Speak Out about E. coli O157:H7 Outbreak on the Marler Clark website.
More on this outbreak: Gold Coast Produce E. coli Outbreak
