Actually, it was the U.S.  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) who jointly declared an end to the E coli O157 outbreak after nearly two months of investigation. At least 66 people across the U.S and Canada became ill, 22 were hospitalized, and 2 died during November and December, all linked to consumption of romaine lettuce.

Consumer Reports went along for the ride.

What’s been missing is any response from the leafy greens marketing agency types.

Silence – the LGMA cone of silence — is golden, I guess.

CDC announced on January 25, 2018, that this outbreak appears to be over, because the last case became ill on December 12, 2017. This indicates that the food causing illness is no longer available in the marketplace or consumers’ homes.

Although this outbreak appears to be over, the FDA’s outbreak investigation team is continuing to work with federal, state and local partners to determine what leafy greens made people ill, what people ate, where they bought it, and identify the distribution chain — all with the goal of identifying any common food or points where the food might have become contaminated. To date, no common link has been identified.

Because whole genome sequencing showed that the E. coli O157:H7 strain that resulted in the U.S. illnesses was closely related genetically to the strain that caused illnesses in Canada, the FDA and CDC have been in contact with Canadian food safety authorities throughout this outbreak.