From the Washington Post today:

The Food and Drug Administration issued a warning Sunday to consumers to throw away certain pre-cut, bagged salads made by Dole Food Co. because they have been connected to an E. coli bacteria outbreak in Minnesota.

Though the outbreak happened two weeks ago and is limited to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, federal health officials warned that the affected Dole products were distributed nationwide. The cited bags are Dole's Classic Romaine and American Blend salads with a use-by date of Sept. 23, 2005, and a production code beginning with B250. Also included is Dole's Greener Selection, with a use-by date of Sept. 22 and the same production code.

By Heaventree on Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - 04:13 pm:

Just wanted to add to this ~ when you buy any prepackaged fruit or vegetable ALWAYS wash it even it if it says pre-washed. E.Coli is nothing to mess around with.

Ginny thanks for posting this.

By Feona on Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - 05:56 pm:

Wow. Thanks for the warning.

By Coopaveryben on Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - 07:08 pm:

Thanks for the post, I always use this stuff and it never occured to me that it could contain e-coli. Yikes!

By Ginny~moderator on Wednesday, October 5, 2005 - 06:33 pm:

Personally, I always wash all fresh vegetables and fruits, no matter if they are pre-packaged or not. But yes, e-coli can be in this stuff. It is simply a matter of someone not washing their hands thoroughly after bathrooming. I assume that Dole puts all the salad contents through several washes but that doesn't stop a worker near the end of the process being careless.

And, I would point out, Dole is saying that the FDA has not yet found e-coli in any of the salads on (or taken off) the shelf - it may well be another source. The notice was published by the FDA because of the couple of dozen people who were affected, the only thing that they had in common in the early stages of the investigation was these three Dole pre-packaged salad mixes. Further investigation may well turn up something else.