WASHINGTON - California lettuce recalled over E. coli fears tested negative for a sometimes deadly strain of the bacteria, company officials said Tuesday. The Nunes Company Inc. of Salinas, Calif., said multiple samples from among the more than 8,500 cartons of recalled green leaf lettuce tested negative for pathogenic E. coli O157:H7. That strain is the same responsible for the E. coli outbreak linked to spinach that killed three people and sickened 199 others.
