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Romaine Recall


weinoo

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I guess the few problems we were having with romaine lettuce have, ummm, multiplied.

 

According to the Times, it's getting serious.

 

Do Not Eat Romaine Lettuce, Health Officials Warn

Edited by Smithy
Adjusted title for clarity (log)

Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

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The next time I go to Costco in Morelia I'll check on where their 6-pack of romaine hearts comes from. Too bad--it's a staple in our house because it holds up well in the crisper drawer. Maybe at some point we'll find out where the problem lettuce is grown. I can buy locally-grown (I think) romaine in our mercado but it tends to be of lesser quality--you have to strip off half the leaves before you get to something we're willing to eat.

 

Nancy in Pátzcuaro

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Formerly "Nancy in CO"

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I've already eaten two large salads with a Romaine head that was delivered Sunday, with sliced strawberries and a ginger/soy sauce slightly sweet vinaigrette. I have not had fresh vegetables in two weeks, so I am not getting rid of this beautiful head of lettuce that is so much more vibrant, green and bursting with nutrients than was delivered on last month's grocery order when they substituted some anemic, pale hearts of Romaine. I always wash it thoroughly, and it is my favorite lettuce. I can understand why others might pitch it, but I just can't. It only cost $1.49, so that is not the point. I just so look forward to being able to consume whole, unprocessed foods when I can get them in the first couple of weeks of my monthly grocery order. I don't feed anyone else now, and would probably not make this decision if I did.

 

I will wash my lovely lettuce extra well, however. I anticipate being fine, as I have been so far.

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> ^ . . ^ <

 

 

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We were advised by our supplier at work to bin whatever we had and that they wouldn't be shipping more until there was an all-clear. They said there hadn't been an official recall or do-not-eat issued in our area but they were strongly recommending it as a precautionary thing. All we had in stock went in the dumpster this morning.

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It's kinda like wrestling a gorilla... you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is tired.

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I heard about the recall yesterday as I was driving to my local farmstead.  I bought some of their homegrown Romaine as I doubt it could be implicated in this recall.  I plan to keep it and eat it myself but won't be bringing a salad to Thanksgiving dinner lest my relatives suspect me of trying to kill them.

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I was talking to a neighbor yesterday when I went to get my mail and she said she was not going to toss the 3 heads of Romaine that she had purchased the morning before.

She planned to make lettuce soup with it.  She said by the time she finished cooking it, the temp would be well above the 160° needed to kill off the e.coli.

(She's a nurse) She said she did the same thing the last time we had the Romaine scare and there was no problem. She says her family likes lettuce soup and Romaine produces a better flavor than other types.  

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"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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3 hours ago, andiesenji said:

I was talking to a neighbor yesterday when I went to get my mail and she said she was not going to toss the 3 heads of Romaine that she had purchased the morning before.

She planned to make lettuce soup with it.  She said by the time she finished cooking it, the temp would be well above the 160° needed to kill off the e.coli.

(She's a nurse) She said she did the same thing the last time we had the Romaine scare and there was no problem. She says her family likes lettuce soup and Romaine produces a better flavor than other types.  

This was exactly the thought I had: reduce the food waste. Lettuce soup, aren't there also recipes for stir-fried lettuce?

 

How hard would it be to wash the lettuce (maybe with a little bleach added?) to make it safe to eat?

MelissaH

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28 minutes ago, MelissaH said:

This was exactly the thought I had: reduce the food waste. Lettuce soup, aren't there also recipes for stir-fried lettuce?

 

How hard would it be to wash the lettuce (maybe with a little bleach added?) to make it safe to eat?

 

Washing, even with bleach, doesn’t kill E. coli, which may actually be within the cells of the plant, not just sitting on top. Cooking thoroughly is the only way to make it safe. 

Edited by pastrygirl (log)
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A tangent, but it amused me:
 

image.png.c449f9b6e3d98458a00b4af7bb78f51c.png

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“Who loves a garden, loves a greenhouse too.” - William Cowper, The Task, Book Three

 

"Not knowing the scope of your own ignorance is part of the human condition...The first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club is you don’t know you’re a member of the Dunning-Kruger club.” - psychologist David Dunning

 

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On 11/21/2018 at 5:02 AM, Thanks for the Crepes said:

I've already eaten two large salads with a Romaine head that was delivered Sunday, with sliced strawberries and a ginger/soy sauce slightly sweet vinaigrette. I have not had fresh vegetables in two weeks, so I am not getting rid of this beautiful head of lettuce that is so much more vibrant, green and bursting with nutrients than was delivered on last month's grocery order when they substituted some anemic, pale hearts of Romaine. I always wash it thoroughly, and it is my favorite lettuce. I can understand why others might pitch it, but I just can't. It only cost $1.49, so that is not the point. I just so look forward to being able to consume whole, unprocessed foods when I can get them in the first couple of weeks of my monthly grocery order. I don't feed anyone else now, and would probably not make this decision if I did.

 

I will wash my lovely lettuce extra well, however. I anticipate being fine, as I have been so far.

Just a heads up that washing doesn’t get rid of ecoli from vegetables that have been contaminated, as it’s not just ok the surface of the vegetable but also inside the cells. 

 

 

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