The Canadian Food Inspection Agency's (CFIA) has announced that the cases of E. coli illness reported in the Maritimes and Ontario may be linked to shredded lettuce distributed by FreshPoint.
The lettuce was distributed primarily to some KFC and KFC-Taco Bell restaurants.
CFIA noted that as lettuce has a short shelf life, the contaminated products are unlikely to still be available. As a precaution, the CFIA is working with FreshPoint to recall any remaining affected products from restaurants.
At this point, the source of contamination for the shredded lettuce has not been determined. The CFIA has traced the lettuce to its origin in California and has notified US authorities of this finding.
The CFIA is verifying that appropriate food safety controls were followed at each step of production, processing and distribution. The agency noted that immediate action will be taken to ensure that any unsafe food is removed from the marketplace.
