E. Coli crops up again in lettuce from the U.S.

Sep 17 2007

In yet another food scare in North America, Canadian consumers are being warned about contaminated lettuce.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) says Dole lettuce salad is being recalled because of concerns that it has been contaminated with E. coli O157:H7.

According to the CFIA there have as yet been no reported illnesses in people eating the ready to eat salad blend, which consists of romaine, green leaf and butter lettuce.

The salad is produced in the United States and sold in 227-gram packages.

The packages have a "best if used by" date of Sept. 19, 2007, a lot code of A24924B and a UPC of 0-71430- 01038-9 and the product may have been distributed nationally.

Consumption of food contaminated with the E. coli bacteria may cause serious and potentially life-threatening illnesses.

Symptoms include severe abdominal pain and bloody diarrhea and some people may have seizures or strokes and some may need blood transfusions and kidney dialysis.

Others may live with permanent kidney damage and in severe cases of illness, people may die.

The CFIA warns that food contaminated with the bacteria often does not smell or look spoiled.

The CFIA is working with the importers to have the affected product removed from the marketplace and will be monitoring the effectiveness of the recall.

Concerned consumers can call the agency's hotline at 1-800-442-2342 between 8 a.m. ET and 8 p.m. ET.