Northwest Fruit and Produce Romaine Lettuce E. coli Outbreak
Thurston and Pierce counties of Washington State experienced an E. coli outbreak in May of 2008. Ten people were infected with E. coli O157:H7; all had recently eaten salads in local restaurants. The outbreak was traced to commercial, bagged romaine lettuce distributed by Northwest Fruit and Produce, which supplied many restaurants and food service establishments in the area. Evidence emerged indicating that the romaine lettuce was grown in the Salinas Valley of California, which was the epicenter of a nationwide E. coli spinach outbreak in 2006.
On August 20, 2008 Marler Clark filed suit on behalf of a student at Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) in Parkland, Washington, who became seriously ill after taking all of her meals on campus.