A recent study conducted by researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has identified factors that determine the susceptibility of different leafy greens to foodborne Escherichia coli, including storage temperatures, leaf roughness, and natural wax coating.
Although there exists extensive research on microbiological contamination of romaine lettuce, which has caused numerous foodborne illness outbreaks in the past decade, there is far less literature regarding other leafy greens, like green-leaf lettuce, spinach, kale, and collard greens. To fill this knowledge gap, the researchers included all five of the aforementioned leafy greens in their study (romaine, green-leaf lettuce, spinach, kale, and collards).