E. coli outbreak linked to Romaine confirmed in Tennessee

The E. coli outbreak linked to contaminated shredded Romaine lettuce has expanded to a fourth state.

Also, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now believes 23 people have tested positive for E. coli poisoning, and seven more are likely to be included in that total.

Health officials now say a Tennessee person has been confirmed with the same strain of E. coli bacteria as previous victims in New York, Ohio and Michigan.

Many of those victims were school and college students and cafeteria workers who handled the shredded lettuce.

The contaminated Romaine lettuce has been linked to a grower in Yuma, Ariz., and was sold to Freshway Foods, an Ohio grocer, who shipped the lettuce to many of the eastern U.S.

Earlier this week we also reported that a Midwest company also purchased the lettuce, but did not make it available at the retail level.

Many food poisoning cases go unreported because normally healthy people suffer only minor side effects, like nausea and diarrhea.

Regulators have not releasd the name of the farm which grew the lettuce.

Leafy greens often get contaminated from poor runoff management which tends to flood the delicate crops.

Because this lettuce included in the recall is shredded before it reaches the consumer – used in prepared salads and at salad bars – it is also possible the crop was contaminated after it was picked, during that processing.