Health authorities supervising dumping of romaine lettuce

County Medical Officers of Health (CMOHs) and the Food and Drug Division of the Ministry of Health are overseeing the dumping of the romaine lettuce which was recalled by the ministry on Wednesday.

The ministry made the call after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States recalled romaine lettuce after an outbreak of illnesses showed a possible link to the E.coli bacterium. The bacterium causes intestinal infections and even kidney failure and seizures.

Some supermarkets and restaurants have taken heed of the warning and have taken romaine lettuce off their shelves and stopped serving it in their salads and sandwiches.

However, there were some concerns raised about possible indiscriminate dumping and citizens scavenging for the discarded lettuce for their own use or selling it at a reduced price to unsuspecting buyers.

Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram, speaking yesterday at the launch of the 2019 influenza vaccination drive at the Health Ministry on Park Street, Port of Spain, said there was dumping at different levels.

"We have trucks that would have gone out to the retailers already," he explained. "What we do, in collaboration with the county medical officers of health (CMOH) and the Food and Drug Division, we do inspections and, together with the regional corporations, who usually provide transport for the dumped produce, the product is placed directly into the trucks and certified by the CMOH and the Food and Drug Division.

"They usually use a process of dumping disinfectant on to the product, and that goes straight to one of the national dumping sites. The same thing applies for the wholesalers."