Suppliers dealing with romaine lettuce problem

PHOENIX (KSAZ) -- Valley companies are dealing with romaine lettuces, after health officials in U.S. and Canada told people to stop eating the vegetable, because of a new E. coli outbreak.

FOX 10 has called all major grocery stores in the Valley, and they said if you have brought romaine lettuce from them, bring in a receipt and they will refund you.
This is the second e coli outbreak affecting romaine lettuce, and it is presenting a big headache for restaurants and suppliers.

At Peddler's Son Distribution Warehouse in Phoenix, "Do Not Use" signs are posted on boxes of romaine lettuce.

"We're telling our customers until we know where and who we're going to put everything on hold. Do something different," said Ted Palmisano.

Peddler's Son Produce provides fresh produce to hundreds of restaurants across the state. They got the CDC alert on Tuesday, and customers started calling.

"They are very panicked," said Palmisano. "A lot are asking, 'what am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to serve?'"

Palmisano said fortunately, there are many other leafy green options when it comes to salads, and people are urged to try them, while Federal investigators track down the culprit of this latest outbreak. Palmisano said what makes them feel bad is the amount of food they will be wasting. It is likely they will have to throw away thousands of pounds of romaine.

"We do feel bad that we have to trash this, because a lot of times when things go bad here, we give it to the food banks, especially during Thanksgiving," said Palmisano.