On July 29, 2002, the FDA warned consumers not to consume Spokane Produce brand romaine lettuce because the product was associated with an outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 that occurred at a "Just for Kix" dance camp that occurred on the Cheney campus of Eastern Washington University in mid-July of 2002. The FDA reported that 29 individuals at the Eastern Washington University dance camp had been confirmed to have E. coli O157:H7. The situation was discovered when many individuals who attended the camp became ill.Washington Department of Health (WDOH) laboratory tested the two Spokane County cases’ E. coli O157:H7 bacterial culture isolates by pulse field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and determined they were indistinguishable. By July 31, 33 cases of E. coli O157:H7 were confirmed by culture in Spokane County.
The Spokane Regional Health District concluded that the likely source of the outbreak was romaine lettuce manufactured, distributed and sold by Spokane Produce.