Designed for Salinas Valley, California growers, an ongoing project supported by the Center for Produce Safety will leverage existing science and consider unique farming operation factors to create a user-friendly tool that assesses Escherichia coli contamination risk and provides actionable mitigation measures.

To help predict and mitigate the presence of Escherichia coli and other foodborne pathogens on lettuce, a new weather-based model has been developed by USDA-ARS researchers and collaborators.

As part of the agency’s Leafy Greens STEC Action Plan, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published a report detailing the results of targeted inspections and microbiological testing of leafy greens grown in Salinas Valley, California during the region’s 2022 harvest season.

Recent flooding in California included many ranches in the Salinas Valley, which grow leafy greens and other crops. Floodwaters have the potential to contain various pathogens that can directly cross-contaminate future product grown in those fields, as well as nearby fields. Bringing land back into production is an area of great concern.

A study has demonstrated the economic impacts of foodborne illness outbreaks on supply chains by observing the damages caused by the 2018 Escherichia coli outbreak that was linked to romaine lettuce grown in California.