The day after

Coverage of the FDA's announcement that prepackaged lettuce from California was linked to an E. coli foodborne illness outbreak at Taco John's restaurants received this play in The LA Times. FDA officials have stepped up their concern about California growing regions, with the Taco Bell and Taco John's E. coli representing the 21st and 22nd E. coli outbreaks since 1995, with about half linked to the Salinas Valley.
"It just adds more fuel to the fire of the need to address this," FDA medical officer David Acheson was quoted in the article. The same report describes the industry's effort to form a marketing agreement to do that very thing.
A hearing in Monterey on Friday was the venue where grower representatives proposed the state-issued seal of approval for leafy greens grown and processed under certain standards, which are still in development. Here is a link to more coverage of the hearing from the San Jose Mercury, and here is the document that growers were considering.


Critics quoted in these stories - a Democrat state lawmaker and a spokewoman for the Center for Science in the Public Interest - already say a mandatory fix is needed. Even more than that, I am concerned about a change in FDA's tone, which has become more strident. Another piece of evidence of a link between California fields and an E. coli outbreak - despite the industry's concerted efforts to address the issue - likely increase the odds of regulation that goes beyond the industry-led marketing agreement.