In a report released this month from the CDC, Leafy Greens were responsible for 23% of the food-borne illnesses reported in the U.S. This trend is not expected to decrease anytime soon; as the U.S. population and global produce market are increasing. The regulating agencies like the FDA and USDA are able to trace the pathogens back to their place/ country of origin more efficiently, but still have a lot of work to do to protect the U.S. food supply. With the Food Safety Modernization Act now in place, the FDA will focus not only on better detection of the food-borne pathogens, but also emerging technologies that are safe for treating the foods we love, while being safer for the environment.

Electronic Cold-Pasteurization (ECP) uses a highly focused beam of electrons (ie; electricity) to kill the pathogens without harming the produce or adding any harmful chemicals or residue. This process does not add any heat and therefore allows the produce to keep the cold-chain intact from “farm-to-fork”.

When you look at the nation-wide and multi-state recalls just in the last year, it will show there is a serious problem that needs to be fixed. These are the food items we eat every day; bagged lettuce, spinach, cantaloupes, tomatoes, papayas, etc. All of these have had massive pathogen recalls recently involving illnesses, hospitalizations, and even deaths. Internationally, the IAEA ( www.iaea.org ) is working on implementing technologies like ECP to make the global food supply safer, but also add the side benefit of increased shelf-life. What would you pay extra to know your strawberry would last two to three weeks longer before it started to mold?

As nearly half the United States deals with an outbreak of a rare strain of E. coli in lettuce—which has sickened at least 30 people—consumers should start demanding better food-treatment methods and pressing Congress to expand testing.

Safer food-treatment and testing methods are needed

Last week, there were two recalls of romaine lettuce related to the outbreak, both by distributors who bought lettuce from the same Arizona farm. Freshway Foods announced a 23-state recall of romaine lettuce last week, while Vaughn Foods of Oklahoma announced a recall May 17, the AP reports.

The romaine was not sold directly to consumers in the produce section but was used by food-service companies and supermarkets in salad bars and “grab and go” meals. Several of the victims were students at colleges in Michigan, Ohio and New York who apparently ate the infected lettuce in dining halls, according to the Washington Post.

Lettuce is supposed to be healthy, right?

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