SAN FRANCISCO – The company that recalled its lettuce after irrigation water tested positive for E. coli scrambled Monday to locate 250 remaining cartons of the greens, which could be scattered across seven Western states.
On Sunday, Nunes Co. recalled more than 8,500 cartons of green leaf lettuce grown on one farm in the Salinas Valley, the agricultural region at the center of the contaminated-spinach outbreak that killed three people and made 199 others sick.
By Monday morning, all but 250 cartons of the lettuce distributed under the Foxy brand between Oct. 3 and Oct. 6 had been located and were being destroyed, company President Tom Nunes said.
He said the remaining cartons were believed to be in supermarkets or restaurants in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, Arizona, Nevada and Montana.
Nunes emphasized that the recall was precautionary since there had been no evidence of E. coli on the lettuce, or any reports of illnesses.
Massachusetts: Driver survives on Wheat Thins
A diabetic driver survived for four days on Wheat Thins and dew after crashing his SUV into thick brush on his way home from work. Raymond Vachon’s wife reported the 59-year-old missing on Oct. 3 when he didn’t return from his overnight security job in Springfield. He spent four days in and out of consciousness before a dog-walker heard him yelling for help Saturday morning. Vachon later told police he had lost control of his SUV around 5 a.m. and crashed about 30 feet into the brush along Highway 32. When he came to, he was able to reach his insulin and the crackers that he kept in the vehicle, but he didn’t have a cell phone to call for help. He drank dew off leaves and the windshield, his wife said.
Pennsylvania: Church bells toll
Church bells tolled across Amish country Monday morning in memory of five young girls who were shot to death in their tiny, one-room schoolhouse a week earlier. The survivors of that attack will eventually resume classes in another building, already being stocked with donations of stuffed animals and school supplies.
An Erie woman used her 4-week-old baby as a weapon in a domestic dispute, swinging the infant through the air and striking her boyfriend with the child, authorities said. The boy was in serious but stable condition Monday at Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, police said. “Never, never, never. I can never remember anything like this,” District Attorney Bradley Foulk told the Erie Times-News. Chytoria Graham, 27, was charged with aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and simple assault. She was held Monday in the Erie County Jail in lieu of $75,000 bail.
D.C.:Lower standards help Army
The U.S. Army recruited more than 2,600 soldiers under new lower aptitude standards this year, helping the service beat its goal of 80,000 recruits in the throes of an unpopular war and mounting casualties. The recruiting mark comes a year after the Army missed its recruitment target by the widest margin since 1979, which had triggered a boost in the number of recruiters, increased bonuses and changes in standards. The Army recruited 80,635 soldiers, roughly 7,000 more than last year. Of those, about 70,000 were first-time recruits who had never served before.
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