To recap, Freshway Foods has recalled chopped romaine lettuce  products due to an outbreak of E. coli O145 associated with the product in Michigan, Ohio, and New York.  To date, the outbreak has caused 29 confirmed probable illnesses in those three states, although the true number of illnesses in the outbreak is likely much bigger.  And today, a Vaughn Foods, food distributor in Moore, Okla., is recalling romaine lettuce that came from the same farm in Yuma, Ariz.ona.

The romaine lettuce E. coli O145 outbreak has also caused at least three HUS illlnesses, two of which occurred in New York amongst students in Wappinger Falls School District.  The outbreak has caused the most damage at schools–the implicated and recalled product is distributed in industrial sizes, but in grocery stores–including schools within the Wappinger Falls School District, The Ohio State University, The University of Michigan, and at Daemon College near Buffalo, New York. 

And also today, Misti Crane of the Columbus Dispatch added another layer to the romaine lettuce E. coli O145 outbreak story. According to Misti’s article this morning, tests conducted by the State of Ohio on lettuce from Andrew Smith Company have returned positive for an entirely different strain of E. coli than E. coli O145.