There's a warning not to eat romaine lettuce.
There's been a new E. coli outbreak that's been linked to romaine lettuce in Canada and the U.S.
The Public Health Agency of Canada says the outbreak has sickened 18 people in Quebec and Ontario with six needing to be hospitalized.
32 people in 11 U.S. states have also fallen ill. No deaths have been reported.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says it's working with U.S. authorities to determine the source of the romaine lettuce those who got ill were exposed to.
Speaking on AM800's the Lynn Martin Show, Bell Media Medical Expert Dr. Mitch Shulman says this strain of e-coli is very similar to the outbreak in December 2017.
"The unfortunate news is that we never figured out why that outbreak happened, it came and it went and we were never able to track it back. Hopefully we will be able to track it back to the source right now," he says.
He points out the precautions are reasonable--if people are eating lettuce, make sure it hasn't been sitting in the refrigerator. He says the lettuce should be brand new and cleared.
"It is always a good idea whenever you buy produce, whether it is lettuce, romaine or others, or any produce like that, to run it under cool running water, you don't need to use special soap, you don't need to use any special procedures, just rinse it off."
He admits these situations are very rare.
"What people don't realize is what an awesome job the Centre for Disease Control in the states and Health Canada have done. There have been a very small number of cases in Canada and yet for the guys to clue in to what is going on, to track it down to the romaine lettuce in the first place is just an amazing bit of skullduggery, sleuthing and detective work."
Most E. coli bacteria are benign but some can cause illness with symptoms that include severe stomach cramps, diarrhea and vomiting.