Some Fresh Choice Red Leaf Lettuce has the potential to be contaminated with the dangerous <"https://www.yourlawyer.com/practice_areas/food_poisoning">Salmonella pathogen. According to All Voices, state health officials issued a warning against eating some Fresh Choice Red Leaf Lettuce sold at three groceries in southern California.
The potentially contaminated lettuce was sold between October 20 and November 1 at Canton Food Company in Los Angeles and Cardenas Market and Numero Uno Markets in southern California, said Dr. Mark Horton director at the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), wrote All Voices.
According to Dr. Horton, the lettuce was made available in grocery stores and sold at whole head lettuce with no identifying labels, said All Voices. The lettuce was produced by Fresh Choice Marketing of Oxnard.
The contaminated Fresh Choice Red Leaf Lettuce is not being sold; however, CDPH investigators expressed concern that the contaminated lettuce could be in consumers’ homes, wrote All Voices.
Dr. Horton stated that most infected with the Salmonella pathogen tend to recover within one week, but some people can develop complications that lead to hospitalizations, said All Voices. Dr. Horton advises consumers suffering from adverse effects following consumption of the lettuce to speak with their physicians, added All Voices. Also, if the contaminated Fresh Choice Red Leaf Lettuce is seen in stores for sale, consumers are advised to report the action to the CDPH, toll-free, at 1 (800) 495-3232, said All Voices.
In general, healthy persons infected with Salmonella poisoning—Salmonellosis—often experience fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, infection with Salmonella can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses such as arterial infections, endocarditic, and arthritis.
Salmonella can also lead to serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems.
We recently wrote that The Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy (CIDRAP) announced that the USDA, using its recently released tool for calculating the cost of food borne illnesses, estimated that food borne illness cases, including Salmonella, cost the nation about $3.13 billion a year.
The USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) estimated that Salmonella infections, from all sources, cost about $2.65 billion annually, based on an estimate by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of 1.4 million Salmonella cases annually from all sources. This includes 415 deaths. The estimated average cost per case is $1,896.
