CFS follows up on incident of US romaine lettuce suspected to be contaminated with E. coli

The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department today (November 22) said that the CFS, through its routine Food Incident Surveillance System, learnt on November 21 that there were reports in the United States (US) and Canada about outbreaks of Escherichia coli (E. coli) infection that might be linked to the consumption of romaine lettuce contaminated with E. coli. The CFS immediately contacted the US and Canadian authorities for more information (including about the place of origin of the affected romaine lettuce). The Centre also, starting from yesterday, held all romaine lettuce imported from the US and Canada for testing at the import level, which will only be released to the market upon satisfactory test results. The CFS has also enhanced surveillance of romaine lettuce from the two countries at retail level, and retailers have voluntarily removed from shelves the product concerned.

For the sake of prudence, the CFS urges the public not to consume romaine lettuce from the US, Canada and unknown sources.

The CFS will continue to closely monitor the latest developments of the incident in the US and Canada and take appropriate follow-up action.
 
Ends/Thursday, November 22, 2018