Romaine still on Red River Co-op shelves as other Winnipeg stores pull it, fearing E. coli outbreak

ThePublic Health Agency of Canada says it has not received reports of anyone in Manitoba falling ill from a recent E. coli outbreak in the country.

But it won't say whether or not romaine lettuce is safe for Manitobans to eat.

"There is currently no evidence to suggest that residents outside of the three affected provinces are affected by this outbreak," spokesperson Anna Maddison wrote in an email to CBC News, when asked whether Manitobans should be consumingit.

Nineteen people in Canadahave become sick after consuming romaine lettuce.

Originally, the federal government only issued the warning for residents in Ontario and Quebec,where E. coli cases were confirmed. However, the advisory was expanded on Wednesday to include New Brunswick after an additional infection was reported there.

Even though Manitoba hasn't been affected yet, Winnipeg shopper Rilla Edwards says for her, it's not worth the risk.

"I think one should just avoid romaine for a while. It's my favourite lettuce. I use it all the time. It's a staple in the house. [But]I'm looking for an alternative for a few weeks," Edwards said.

Shopper Bob Weidman says he's surprised to see romaine still on his grocery store's shelves at all.

"I don't know why it's here," he said.

Both Weidman and Edwards were shopping at Red River Co-op one of the only stores in Winnipeg still selling romaine on Thursday.

Red River Co-opsaid itplans to continue to offer the lettuce.

"We're in regular contact and will follow the guidance issued by the government regarding the investigation and recalls," said Paul Bustard, the company's vice-president of food operations.

"We were told it was fine to sell lettuce in Manitoba, so we're going to sell lettuce in Manitoba," he said.

Despite no advisory in Manitoba, many other grocery stores and restaurants in the province are getting rid of their romaine.

Earlier this week, major chains Sobeys and Loblaws announced they were pulling all romaine products from their shelves country-wide as a precautionary measure.

In Winnipeg, CBC News visited a Real Canadian Superstore, Walmart, Food Fare, Save-on-Foods, Safewayand Red River Co-op on Thursday. They had all pulled romaine from their shelves, except for Red River Co-op andSafeway. A spokesperson for Safeway's parent company Sobeys told CBC News it's still in the process of removing all romaine.

"This is a massive proactive recall that we have initiated the largest any of our team can remember, by far," said spokesperson Cynthia Thompson.

"The process to remove, report and verify the removal of this quantity of items in 1,500 retail locations is complex."

Meanwhile, the Public Health Agency of Canada says it still hasn't found the source of the contamination.

Because of that, food safety experts in Winnipeg are advising consumers across the country to avoid romaine lettuce altogether.

"As a precaution, just don't eat romaine lettuce until we get more information," said Claudia Narvaez, an expert in food safety at the University of Manitoba.

"I think that's the best recommendation to follow for everybody. I know I personally will avoid it."