The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) announced  that it is temporarily imposing import restrictions on romaine lettuce grown in the U.S.  CFIA specifies a number of ways to demonstrate that the romaine is suitable for importation, such as documenting that the romaine does not originate from the Salinas Valley of California or providing a certificate from an accredited laboratory confirming that the lettuce does not contain detectable levels of E.coli.

The requirements follow several outbreaks of foodborne E.coli illnesses in Canada and the United States that have been traced to romaine lettuce.  Investigations conducted by American and Canadian authorities identified the California counties of Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, San Benito and Monterey—where the Salinas Valley is located—as recurring sources of the outbreaks.

CFIA’s temporary import conditions are in effect from October 7, 2020 through December 31, 2020 and apply to all shipments of romaine lettuce from the U.S.