E. coli outbreaks associated with lettuce, specifically the “pre-washed” and “ready-to-eat” varieties, are by no means a new phenomenon. In fact, the frequency with which this country’s fresh produce consuming public has been hit by outbreaks of pathogenic bacteria is astonishing. Here are just a sample of E. coli outbreaks based on information gathered by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Kansas State University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

DateVehicleEtiologyConfirmed
Cases		States/Provinces
July 1995Lettuce (leafy green; red; romaine)E. coli O157:H7741:MT
Sept. 1995Lettuce (romaine)E. coli O157:H7201:ID
Sept. 1995Lettuce (iceberg)E. coli O157:H7301:ME
Oct. 1995Lettuce (iceberg; unconfirmed)E. coli O157:H7111:OH
May-June 1996Lettuce (mesclun; red leaf)E. coli O157:H7613:CT, IL, NY
May 1998SaladE. coli O157:H721:CA
Feb.-Mar. 1999Lettuce (iceberg)E. coli O157:H7721:NE
Oct. 1999SaladE. coli O157:H7923:OR, PA, OH
Oct. 2000LettuceE. coli O157:H761:IN
Nov. 2001LettuceE. coli O157:H7201:TX
July-Aug. 2002Lettuce (romaine)E. coli O157:H7292:WA, ID
Nov. 2002LettuceE. coli O157:H7131:Il
Dec. 2002LettuceE. coli O157:H731:MN
Oct. 2003-May 2004Lettuce (mixed salad)E. coli O157:H7571:CA
Apr. 2004SpinachE. coli O157:H7161:CA
Nov. 2004LettuceE. coli O157:H761:NJ
Sept. 2005Lettuce (romaine)E. coli O157:H7323:MN, WI, OR
Sept. 2006Spinach (baby)E. coli O157:H7 and other serotypes205Multistate and Canada
Nov./Dec. 2006LettuceE. coli O157:H7714:NY, NJ, PA, DE
Nov./Dec. 2006LettuceE. coli O157:H781 3:IA, MN, WI
July 2007LettuceE. coli O157:H7261:AL
May 2008RomaineE. coli O157:H791:WA
Oct. 2008LettuceE. coli O157:H759Multistate and Canada
Nov. 2008LettuceE. coli O157:H7130Canada
Sept. 2009Lettuce: Romaine or IcebergE. coli O157:H729Multistate
Sept. 2009LettuceE. coli O157:H710Multistate
April 2010RomaineE. coli O145335:MI, NY, OH, PA, TN
Oct. 2011RomaineE. coli O157:H760Multistate
April 2012RomaineE. coli O157:H7281:CACanada
June 2012RomaineE. coli O157:H752Multistate
Sept. 2012RomaineE. coli O157:H791:PA
Oct. 2012Spinach and Spring Mix BlendE. coli O157:H733Multistate
Apr. 2013Leafy GreensE. coli O157:H714Multistate
Aug. 2013Leafy GreensE. coli O157:H7151:PA
Oct. 2013Ready-To-Eat SaladsE. coli O157:H733Multistate
Apr. 2014RomaineE. coli O12641:MN
Apr. 2015Leafy GreensE. coli O14573:MD, SC, VA
June 2016Mesclun MixE. coli O157:H7113:IL, MI, WI
Nov. 2017Leafy GreensE. coli O157:H767Multistate and Canada
Mar. 2018RomaineE. coli O157:H7219Multistate and Canada
Oct. 2018RomaineE. coli O157:H762Multistate and Canada
Dec. 2019RomaineE. coli O157:H7167Multistate
Jan. 2020Salad KitsE. coli O157:H7 10 Multistate
Mar. 2021Leafy GreensE. coli O157:H715Multistate
Nov. 2021SpinachE. coli O157:H715Multistate
Dec. 2021Power GreensE. coli O157:H7104: WA, OR, OH, AK
Dec. 2022Leafy GreensE. coli O157:H7109Multistate

And, this does not count the leafy green outbreaks that are not linked to a particular product or that the FDA and CDC choose not to publicly report.