Shoppers are being urged to stay away from romaine lettuce because of a recent outbreak of E. coli traced to the Yuma, Ariz., area.

But many local stores say their customers have nothing to fear, as they did not receive any products from the Yuma area.

With a total of 84 people in 19 states reporting illness, the CDC has advised customers to avoid romaine unless they can guarantee it did not come from the Yuma area.

Pennsylvania has had 12 cases reported — the largest number of any state — since the outbreak began in mid-March.

Several local stores said they didn’t have to take any products off their shelves because they didn’t receive any lettuce from the Yuma region.

NOT TAINTED

Mallard Market in Lehighton did not receive any lettuce from the Yuma growing region, store officials said. Owner Karan Patel said the store was informed by their produce supplier that they distributed no Yuma-grown lettuce in this region.

The supplier will send weekly newsletters, and follow-up emails if there if there is a recall announced.

“They’ll email us and give us the SKUs that were affected, which batches was affected, and they’ll let us know if they sent it or not. This whole region was not affected,” Patel said.

Patel said some customers have asked about the romaine lettuce, as well as a recent recall of over 200 million eggs which was announced by the FDA about two weeks ago. Mallard Market tries to source its products as locally as possible to avoid getting caught up in health scares like this one.

Redner’s Warehouse Markets said all of their lettuce is sourced from Salinas, Calif. That includes bagged, loose, and lettuce from the salad bar.

“Customers can have confidence that the product they’re consuming is safe, and they shouldn’t have any doubt that what they’re getting is not implicated with the ecoli advisory or recall,” said Eric White, a spokesman for Redner’s.

Jim Thorpe Market and Country Harvest in Palmerton also said they didn’t stock any recalled prodcuts.

Giant Food Stores said on their website that as of April 16, they had voluntarily removed all products that might be impacted by the FDA’s advisory. In addition, they offered customers a refund for their chopped romaine lettuce if they bring their purchase receipt back to the store. A spokesman didn’t return a call for comment, but Giant has posted details about their response to the recall on their website.

“Food safety is our highest priority, and as we learn more from our suppliers or receive additional guidance from regulatory agencies, we will take appropriate action,” the store’s statement read.

THREAT DECREASING

While the number of reported cases of E. coli continue to increase, experts say it’s because the infections are often reported after the fact.

Luke Laborde of the Penn State Extension said the Yuma growing season has come to an end, meaning the affected product is probably being filtered out of the system.

“They’re not growing it anymore there, or distributing it, so eventually it’ll peter out,” he said.

LaBorde said it’s too early to tell whether this outbreak could be linked to another advisory regarding romaine back in January. He said CDC will most likely attempt to gather samples of the bacteria and sequence their DNA to see they are from the same source.

Recalls are not uncommon, but some seem to get more attention than others. Products like lettuce get more attention because they’re Giant recalled three other products — including smoked sausage and dog treats — since March. Patel said the products are taken off the shelves immediately, before most consumers are even aware there’s a threat.

“As soon as we hear anything about it, we take it off the shelves and go through the process,” he said.