New Hampshire Part of Nationwide E. Coli Outbreak

Food safety experts at Consumer Reports are advising consumers to stop eating romaine lettuce until the cause of the outbreak is identified and the 'offending product is removed from store shelves.'

In the past two months, close to 60 people in the United States and Canada have come down with a strain of E. coli bacteria. A report by Consumer Reports says the illnesses were more than likely caused by eating Romaine Lettuce.

In all, the strain of E. coli was diagnosed in 13 states including right here in New Hampshire. (Other states are: California, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Vermont, and Washington state).

Five people in the U.S. have been hospitalized and one has died, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). There has also been one death in Canada.

“Even though we can’t say with 100 percent certainty that romaine lettuce is the cause of the E. coli outbreak in the U.S., a greater degree of caution is appropriate given that lettuce is almost always consumed raw,” says James Rogers, Ph.D., director of Food Safety and Research at Consumer Reports.