Despite a recall of romaine lettuce from the Salinas, California issued by health authorities in the United States since November, officials in St. Kitts have not pulled the products from supermarket shelves.
According to the Centre for Disease Control and the US Food and Drug Administration, an outbreak of illnesses caused by E. coli across 23 states was traced to romaine lettuce from the Salinas, California growing region.
As a result, a nation-wide recall was announced on November 21.
Subsequently several islands in the Caribbean including Grenada, Barbados, and Antigua issued their own national recall of romaine lettuce from the identified region.
Meanwhile romaine lettuce from the Salinas, California is still being sold in supermarkets across St. Kitts. Freedom FM visited a popular supermarket recently and found romaine lettuce from the Salinas still on the shelves.
On Wednesday Freedom FM inquired of Chief Medical Officer Dr. Hazel Laws why no such recalls or alerts have been issued in St. Kitts.
“We have not put out a release as yet. We are monitoring that situation. Our guys are in touch with the importers to see if any of them import from that area to see the source of our romaine lettuce.”
The CDC and FDA are advising consumers not to eat romaine lettuce harvested from Salinas, California or products containing the lettuce such as salads. Restaurants and retailers are advised not serve or sell that particular romaine lettuce, and suppliers, distributors and others in the supply chain are advised not to ship or sell the product.
The FDA requested that industry voluntarily withdraw romaine grown in Salinas from the market and is requesting that industry withhold distribution of Salinas romaine for the remainder of the growing season in Salinas.
At this time, romaine lettuce that was harvested outside of the Salinas region has not been implicated in this outbreak investigation.