CDC and public health officials continue to investigate a multi-state outbreak of E. Coli linked to brands of organic carrots and baby carrots sold by Grimmway Farms.
On Tuesday Scripps News spoke with Dr. Raynard Washington, Health Department Director for Mecklenburg County, North Carolina and chair of the Big Cities Health Coalition, about the outbreak.
What should consumers do if they have a bag of recalled carrots in their fridge?
"The first thing you should do is look at the label, as well as look at the brand, as well as the sell by date," Dr. Washington said. "If it does match what has been listed by our partners at the CDC, they should actually throw those away and of course not consume them any further."
The organic carrots, from Grimmway Farms in California, included both whole and baby carrots in various sizes and were sold under multiple brands.
According to the recall notice, the carrots were available for purchase in stores approximately from August through the end of October.
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There have been multiple e-coli outbreaks over the past several months. What makes incidents like these relatively common?
"There are a number of different ways it gets introduced into our food supply," Dr. Washington said. "It can happen where the produce is grown and packaged initially. It can also be introduced later as it's being prepared for distribution."
"E. coli is a naturally occurring bacteria, sometimes it can be in cow waste or products, and so that could of course be cross-contaminated at the point of packaging or even in the soil."
Watch the full interview with Dr. Washington in the video above.
