Is it safe to eat romaine lettuce from Salinas Valley again?

After nearly three months, the romaine lettuce outbreak “appears to be over,” federal health officials announced Wednesday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in an updated food safety report that it is “no longer advising that people avoid romaine lettuce from the Salinas Valley growing region in California.”

Since Nov. 22, the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration have told consumers to avoid the lettuce from California as they investigated multistate E. coli outbreaks.

A total of 167 people from 27 states were infected with the outbreak strain of E. coli O157:H7, the CDC said Wednesday.

A total of 85 hospitalizations were reported and 15 people developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a type of kidney failure. No deaths were reported, the CDC said.

“Our investigation is ongoing, and we are doing everything possible to find the source or sources of contamination,” Frank Yiannas, FDA deputy commissioner for food policy and response, said in a statement. ”The investigation into how this contamination occurred is important, so romaine growers can implement measures that will prevent future contamination and illnesses.”

Read more at usatoday.com