Salinas lettuce buyer Andrew Smith Co. may have supplied the tainted romaine lettuce that has sickened nearly 20 people and triggered another national E. coli scare, according to news reports.
The Associated Press reports that Andrew Smith Co. is recalling lettuce sold to an Oklahoma distributor, although company officials say the recall is unrelated to the Freshway Foods outbreak and are declining to say whether they supplied the romaine that has sickened students at three colleges.
The Food and Drug and Administration is leading an investigating at a farm in Yuma, Ariz., where the lettuce was grown. The Packer reports that "the lettuce was packed and shipped in the last days of Yuma production, before the annual swing back to spring production in Salinas."