The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the US is warning consumers not to buy or eat romaine lettuce at a grocery store or restaurant. This is because there is an outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 infections linked to romaine lettuce. Although this is currently in the US, you might want to keep that in mind when buying lettuce. Based on new information, CDC is expanding its warning to consumers to cover all types of romaine lettuce from the Yuma, Arizona growing region. This warning now includes whole heads and hearts of romaine lettuce, in addition to chopped romaine and salads and salad mixes containing romaine.

Unless the source of the product is known, consumers who have any store-bought romaine lettuce at home should not eat it and should throw it away, even if some of it was eaten and no one has gotten sick. Product labels often do not identify growing regions; so, throw out any romaine lettuce if you’re uncertain about where it was grown.

CDC, public health and regulatory officials in several states, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are investigating a multistate outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O157:H7 (E. coli O157:H7) infections. This investigation is ongoing, and CDC will provide updates when more information is available.