Lettuce Co. Says Its Greens Are Safe to Eat

The Salinas company that issued a recall of green-leaf lettuce said Tuesday that neither the greens nor its irrigation water tested positive for the potentially deadly strain of E. coli that has sickened nearly 200 people and killed three in a separate spinach outbreak.

A private lab ran tests for the company. “We are relieved that all results were negative, and we are confident our product is safe,” company President Tom Nunes said in a statement posted on its website Tuesday. The company did not return a call for further comment.

The Nunes Co. initiated the recall of more than 8,500 cartons of its Foxy brand green-leaf lettuce Sunday when it found that irrigation water -- a reservoir on a farm -- may have been contaminated with E. coli.

It was initially unclear whether the identified E. coli was the virulent O157:H7 strain, the same version blamed in the spinach-associated outbreak, or the more commonly found strains that do not cause illness.

Nunes said inspectors from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration took water samples Monday and should have results by late today or Thursday.

The company also said Tuesday that it is removing the suspect water source and is plowing under any unharvested greens that came into contact with the water.

Officials from the FDA could not be contacted late Tuesday for comment, and a California health official said at an afternoon news teleconference that he was unaware of the company’s statement.

California officials are working with the Nunes Co. and the laboratory that completed the tests to review its findings and request specimens for further analysis, said Kevin Reilly, deputy director for prevention services for the California Department of Health Services.

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ron.lin@latimes.com