Freshway Lettuce E. coli 0145 outbreak - Michigan, Ohio, New York, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania
An outbreak of E. coli O145 in Ohio, Michigan, New York, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania, was linked to Freshway romaine lettuce, which the company voluntarily recalled. The CDC reports 23 confirmed cases with another 7 possible, clustered in and around Columbus, Ann Arbor, Buffalo and Tennessee. Students from three colleges - Ohio State University, University of Michigan, and Daemen College (Amherst, NY) fell ill. The recalled lettuce prodicts were only distributed to wholesale, food service, and salad bar outlets. A full list of the products, which were sold under the Freshway and Imperial Sysco Brands, can be found in the FDA recall notice and on the Freshway website.
A total of 26 confirmed and 7 probable cases in 4 states were reported, starting on March 1, 2010. Twelve people were hospitalized and 3 patients developed a type of kidney failure known as hemolytic-uremic syndrome, or HUS. However, since E. coli O145 is rare and almost never tested for, it is likely that there are many more ill.
The link to romaine lettuce was made when a bag of lettuce shipped to a school district in NY tested positive for E. coli. Several students there fell ill before the contaminated lettuce was detected, two with HUS.
On May 10, the Columbus Dispatch reported reported that Ohio testing of romaine lettuce had returned a positive result for another strain of E. coli O145.
On May 11, Marler Clark filed the first suit on behalf of a man in Ohio.