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The government is still investigating how romaine lettuce from Yuma, Arizona, apparently became contaminated with E. coli bacteria. As of Friday, at least 84 people in 19 states have gotten sick, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But at many restaurants around the country, romaine is still on the menu. Both family-run operations and big chains say they’ve checked with suppliers and are confident their romaine comes from places that aren’t affected by E. coli. If they’re not sure, they’re replacing romaine with iceberg and other lettuce varieties.
“We’ve got a lot of people asking where we get our lettuce from,” said Armando Ayala, the manager of Cavatore, an Italian restaurant in Houston. Cavatore offers three dinner salads — including a Caesar made tableside — with lettuce from California and local farms in Texas.
As it turns out, a lot of romaine comes from California, which grows 74 percent of the nation’s lettuce, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Even Salad and Go, a chain with 12 restaurants in Arizona, gets its lettuce from California.
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