Romaine Lettuce
Food Chain Radio Show #1171
Michael Olson, Author & Urban Farming Agriculturalist
Romaine Lettuce
Guest: Jim Prevor, Founder and Editor in Chief, Produce Business Magazine
We are, once again, warned not to eat romaine lettuce, which of all the varieties of lettuce, is one of our favorites!
Michael Olson Food Chain Radio – Let us eat lettuce! We are, once again, warned not to eat romaine lettuce, which of all the varieties of lettuce, is one of our favorites! The reason is an E. coli outbreak sickening 65 people in 12 states.
The reason is an E. coli outbreak sickening 65 people in 12 states.
Six months ago, give or take, the Fed’s finger pointed to an outbreak in the end-of-season winter romaine harvested in Arizona. And, after giving the outbreak considerable thought, the Feds said the problem was most likely caused by some bad water trickling out of a confined animal feeding lot.
This time the Fed’s finger is pointing toward the end-of-season summer romaine harvested from California’s Central Coast, where romaine is a $655 million dollar a year business, and one of the reasons for the area’s proud appellation, “Salad Bowl of the World.” There are no confined animal feeding operations in the area, and no cause for the E. coli contamination has been identified.
The Feds are saying it’s now safe to eat top of the winter-harvest lettuce from Arizona. In spite of what the Feds say, it’s very hard to find a good bundle of romaine in the grocery stores that serve the Salad Bowl of the World. In fact, people seem downright skittish about eating lettuce. We even hear romaine is being joked about on daytime TV.
But, “wait”, say our friends in the produce biz. The odds of getting sick from lettuce are only one in 11 million and, “Let us eat lettuce!” They lead us to ask…
Leave a comment below: Is the produce in our stores safe to eat?
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