It seems like every day there is a new food recall.

I think my lettuce in the garden is about ready to pick!

I JUST bought my first pack of romaine hearts in over a year of avoiding the packaged stuff (I buy it at the farmer's market when available) from Trader Joe's yesterday! Just checked it, luckily have not opened it and saw this before I did. So sorry for people affected.

You're right Elizabeth, just in the last few days I've seen that Cheese Nips have pieces of plastic, chicken fried rice has pieces of plastic, Breakstone cottage cheese is recalled for bits of plastic and metal, yellowfin tuna got recalled for high levels of histamines, some "ready to eat entrees" which were recalled for Listeria, ground beef originating from Canada could be contaminated with e.coli and, of course, Zantac was recalled because of the cancer risk. I just got an alert that I shouldn't eat any blackberries that I bought at Fresh Thyme due to possible Hepatitis A contamination and, f course, flour was recalled recently. (sigh)

I'm definitely going to keep growing my own food!

Annie

If you check out those huge farms, thousands of acres, many workers picking and working there ----- not a bathroom in sight.

I grow my own.

dcarch

I generally buy lettuce at a farmers' market, but I could grow my own - it just takes a lot of water. Maybe I'll get some seeds... I've grown it before, and it grows best in the winter, which is when the price is lower here.

dcarch, you are wrong. There are strict rules (well enforced, too) about restroom facilities available to field workers. There are portable units that are required to be within a short walk for the workers.

Most contamination in recent years has been traced to water sources and wildlife.

Article from 2006

https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/New-focus-on-field-sanitation-E-coli-2551035.php

Rules are rules, then there is human nature and the call of nature. That article you linked basically tells me that rules are not much use.

So, how and where do the workers go to the bathroom?

dcarch

Having driven by produce farms in the Salinas Valley almost daily for 35 years, I assure you that the port-a-potties are there, just because you don't see them in your pictures.

They don't need to go to the bathroom cause they're wearing huggies.

They said all the lettuce from Salinas CA should be tossed, so I went into the frig. and looked at the half-eaten package of Romaine hearts that I bought last week and sure enough, it was from there. So I said a lot of cuss words and tossed it. By the way, just because there are port o lets at the farms doesn't mean the workers are going to stop picking and walk hundreds of yards to use them. Way back when I was a teenager we picked beans one summer and there wasn't even a place to get water, much less use the toilet. That's why the women wore long skirts, figure out the rest for yourself. Things are better now but until you've walked in their shoes and picked food for a living and you only get paid for what you pick, you just don't know how it is.

Rita, there are regulations, lots of supervisors, and enough pride and dignity to make your scenario very unlikely. Note exactly the same as when you were a child. Most of the previous contamination has been traced to wildlife and water sources.

"------ Most of the previous contamination has been traced to wildlife and water sources. ----"

Yes, of course there are many responsible farms and organizations in the farming industry, but with big money behind everything and powerful lobbying, I would be very careful with those reports.

dcarch

I like romaine and it’s no possible to grow in in winter New England. A lot of the romaine I see at the grocery store is not wrapped or packaged. Is there any way to know where it’s from? The produce manager isn’t always around.

From the few articles I’ve read, it seems that the source has not been definitely determined. True? Perhaps there will be more big farms that find their romaine has become contaminated. Don’t we go through this every year with romaine? Is it because there are growing schedules or seasons? Why romaine so often? Popularity?

BTW, I too thought I’d read that the contamination was largely from the irrigation water used.

I hope the oversubscribed inspectors and funds and regs for protecting our food quality don’t get reduced or compromised by whatever team is in government.

I envy those who can grow their own.

Rita, at least take a picture of the package with the date. Should you get sick, you'll want to be able to prove the source.

It seems if it were caused by farmworker sanitation, many other crops in other locations would be affected.

"Yes, of course there are many responsible farms and organizations in the
farming industry, but with big money behind everything and powerful
lobbying, I would be very careful with those reports."

Perhaps with many multi-million dollar settlements against those companies, along with loss of revenue because people will no longer buy the product, it will behoove them to find and fix the source.

Olychick, I don't know how long it takes to get sick from it, it's been a few days since we ate any of it. But I went to the same grocer today and saw that all the bagged salad with romaine had been pulled, yet the same type that I just threw away was there. So I asked the produce manager there about it and he said that what they had in there today was not from Salinas. Anyway I didn't buy any today since we had a salad last night at a restaurant - (hope theirs was safe!) I don't understand why this keeps happening if what the above post said is correct about all he rules and regulations in effect now. Of course I realize it's better now than when I was young, that was way back in the dark ages! But I also have lived long enough to know human nature, and if a person has to walk a quarter mile to get to a toilet, therefore missing out on that much time's picking - guess what?? We all know that just because there are rules doesn't mean they are going to be followed. And yes I've heard a lot of it is due to problems with irrigation or cross contamination from other areas with livestock, but again, where are the regulators on this? It's happening way too often.

"----- Perhaps with many multi-million dollar settlements against those companies, along with loss of revenue because people will no longer buy the product, it will behoove them to find and fix the source. ---"

Yes, many other greens are grown hydroponically. No toilet contamination.

dcarch

I'm so thankful that my favorite salad in a restaurant is grown on a rooftop hydroponic. A dozen big barely torn variety of leaves with such good flavor they toss with a scant teaspoon of simple dressing, the rest on the side.

Such a shame this keeps happening.

A bbq forum owner's wife I think works for the FDA. Raw salad re-calls have the FDA in spins. From what I've read, they take it very seriously.

Food safety is regulated/taught. But why is that random deli counter guy wearing gloves, taking money at the register, then wiping the prep area with a dirty rag, then building a sandwich with the same gloved hands? Gross.

Food safety handling rules are broken all the time.

I grow my own 365 days a year and am on another forum where we are testing head lettuce varieties for the winter months. I even get ahead of myself and bag some for the fridge...we have salad every night, never purchased.

Thanks for posting this barb. I must be living under a rock because I didn't know about the recall. So I looked in my fridge and, sure enough, Salinas lettuce. I had to throw away two large heads of it. I ate one of the heads but I assume that the pathogen could be in one head but not another so I am not going to take any chances.

I think cooking to a specific temperature can kill off E coli.

Too bad they only recommend throwing all away.

dcarch

It has to be boiled for over 1 minute (and 3 minutes at higher elevations). Boiled lettuce is not very appealing to me! :-)

I do like a warm winter tossed salad on heat with escarole, spinach, garlic chips, etc...but not to kill pathogens. 160 will kill it but I'd rather not 'cook-to-kill'

Or worry about it.

This is the way I do it:

Heat olive oil to almost smoking, then put a few crashed garlic in the oil. Cook garlic until slightly brown.

Keep olive oil smoking hot then throw in cut up lettuce and a splash of fish sauce. Stir like mad so 400F hot oil coat all surfaces on lettuce. This only takes seconds.

Serve the lettuce with a few drops of sesame oil and sprinkle some pepper on top..

You will find the lettuce still very much crispy.

dcarch