Canada To The U.S.: Keep Your Romaine Lettuce

by Jessica Fu

10.08.2020

“Canada’s making a clear statement there”: As the U.S. continues to deal with leafy green E. coli outbreaks, our northern neighbors are taking a stand.

Beginning this week, leafy greens growers in America’s Salad Bowl will have a much harder time shipping to Canada—after food safety officials up north imposed new, strict restrictions on romaine lettuce imports in an effort to stave off potential E. coli outbreaks this fall.

Last week, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced that it would effectively ban imports of romaine sourced from major growing regions in the Salinas Valley unless growers could certify through lab testing that their shipments had “below-detectable levels of E. coli.” The rules took effect on Wednesday and are scheduled to run through the end of the year. Officials said the move was prompted by the numerous E. coli outbreaks linked to U.S.-grown romaine over the past few years. 

“From 2016 to 2019, romaine lettuce from California was linked to outbreaks of E. coli illnesses in the USA and Canada,” the announcement read. “To mitigate risk in the event of another outbreak this fall, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is implementing temporary import measures aimed at preventing contaminated food from entering the marketplace.”

Some food safety experts weren’t surprised by the move, given just how frequently E. coli outbreaks have been traced back to romaine.

“From 2016 to 2019, romaine lettuce from California was linked to outbreaks of E. coli illnesses in the USA and Canada.”

“Canada gets most of its lettuce from [the U.S.],” said Bill Marler, a prominent food safety lawyer and publisher of Food Safety News. “So when we have outbreaks in the U.S., Canada usually has one, too.”

There were last fall’s E. coli outbreaks linked to romaine lettuce sourced from the Salinas Valley. Then there was the 2018 one. Then there was the 2017 one, which also included growers in Arizona and Mexico. Of course, E. coli is far from the only dangerous pathogen that regularly rips through our food system, and E. coli outbreaks have also been traced back to other food items, from other regions, at other times of the year. However, Marler suspected that Canada’s move specifically targeting romaine harvested from Salinas in the fall was the result of getting “whacked” by these particular imports one too many times.

The new requirements may also suggest that Canada is raising doubts about the ability of American leafy greens growers to prevent foodborne illness outbreaks, said Angela Anandappa, executive director of food safety non-profit Alliance for Advanced Sanitation.

“This is a little radical for Canada to do,” she said. Anandappa interprets the restrictions as saying: “We have lost trust in your ability to produce this kind of product.”

“Canada’s making a clear statement there,” she added.

The move’s short notice took growers by surprise, said Trevor Suslow, extension research specialist at the University of California, Davis, who works with farms on food safety issues. In fact, he doubted that many farms would be able to meet the high testing requirements outlined in the new rule—which requires that they take and test 60 samples from every truckload of romaine lettuce products, including mixed salad bags.

The move could indirectly encourage producers to take greater precautions along the growing process.

In response to the move, California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement—a voluntary program composed of major growers who commit to food safety standards and audits—indicated that it might lead to bottlenecks in leafy green supply chains. After all, this is one of America’s top produce exports to Canada, which imported $333 million worth of lettuce in 2018, according to the Department of Agriculture.

“The measures required in these new restrictions for post-harvest testing are not achievable on an industry-wide basis in the timeframe provided,” the marketing group wrote in a statement. It also suggested that industry groups and government officials were working behind the scenes “to resolve this situation to the benefit of all parties.” (California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement declined a request for more information.)

The one point everyone I spoke with agreed on was that testing alone doesn’t safer lettuce make. While it can help trace outbreak sources, and minimize the number of people who get sick from recalled products, it doesn’t directly address the root causes of contamination. For example, leafy greens farms are often located near livestock production, which can contaminate water used to irrigate lettuce. Down the line, contaminated water might also be used to wash and process lettuce before shipment. Then, at the consumer level—while cooking lettuce with heat may kill any potential pathogens—lettuce is typically eaten raw.

Having said that, Marler believes the move could indirectly encourage producers to take greater precautions along the growing process.

“If [producers] want to continue to sell products from Salinas to Canada, they’re going to have to play by the rules,” he said. “And I think that might well be a net benefit to food safety in the U.S.”

Lead photo: iStock /Juanmonino Eating Sourcing

Also tagged canada, lettuce, romaine

Jessica Fu is a staff writer for The Counter.

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The New "ModuleX Plant Factory"

The New "ModuleX Plant Factory" Achieves Genovese Basil Full

Production Cost Below 10 EUR/kg (5$/lbs). And

Wins agtechbreakthrough.com 

“2020 Vertical Farming Solution of The Year”

The full launch webinar is available at https://urbancropsolutions.com/the-launch-webinar/

On September 9th, 2020, Urban Crop Solutions presented their new “ModuleX Plant Factory” at a launch webinar with 500 registrations from 40 countries, of which 245 attended the event live. The webinar was hosted by Henry Gordon-Smith, CEO of Agritecture, an independent horticultural consulting firm. During the webinar, CEO Tom Debusschere and co-founder/CTO Maarten Vandecruys, showed a demo of the new Grow Module with the BenchCarousel (patent pending).

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There was also a guided tour inside of the Indoor Biology Research Center and some in-depth dialogue on the risks and hurdles new entrepreneurs face when starting up a business in Vertical Farming. Other topics covered were the business planning, the 6 months lead time ‘from order to 1st harvest’, and finally the bottom line: an overview of the full production cost (including 10-year depreciation of investment cost) for 3 benchmark crops Romaine Lettuce, Genovese Basil and Red Stem Radish microgreens.

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CEO Tom Debusschere: “We couldn’t be happier with the outcome of our launch webinar. In these times of COVID-19 travel restrictions, we have developed the ability to train and start-up new customers completely remotely. I’m glad to see that within the Vertical Farming community, there is such a wide interest in remote presentation and education as well. I am also proud that Agtechbreakthrough.com has awarded us the 2020 Vertical Farming solution of the year".

Timeslots of interesting topics:

·        8’08” Demo video of the Grow Module with BenchCarousel

·        16’01” In-depth conversation on the end-to-end support

·        29’41” Explanation of full lead time ‘from order to 1st harvest’ of 6 months or less

·        39’08” Guided tour inside the Urban Crop Research Center

·        48’10” Full unit production cost, including CAPEX depreciation over 10 years

Urban Crop Solutions is an ag-tech pioneer in the fast-emerging world of ‘Indoor Vertical Farming’. Throughout years of research, 220+ ‘plant growth recipes’ were developed for efficient indoor growing. All drivers for healthy plant growth, such as optimal LED spectrum and intensity, nutrient mix, irrigation strategy, and climate settings are tested and validated daily in the company’s own Indoor Biology Research Center.

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To date, Urban Crop Solutions has manufactured container Farms and a Plant Factory for clients throughout Europe, North America, and Asia. Urban Crop Solutions’ commercial farms are being operated for vegetables, herbs, and micro-greens for food retail, foodservice, and industrial applications. Research institutions operate the growing infrastructure of Urban Crop Solutions for scientific research on banana seedlings, flowers, hemp, and many more.

Visit www.urbancropsolutions.com for a full virtual tour.

Brecht Stubbe, Sales Director                        brst@urbancropsolutions.com

Maarten Vandecruys, CTO                             mava@urbancropsolutions.com

Tom Debusschere, CEO                                  tode@urbancropsolutions.com 

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Valentina De Pauw / Marketing & Sales OfficerMobile: +32 487 40 19 56
E-mail: vadp@urbancropsolutions.com

Is It Safe To Eat Romaine Lettuce From Salinas Again? CDC Says E. coli Scare “Appears To Be Over”

By Kelly Tyko, USA TodayJan 15, 2020

After nearly three months, the romaine lettuce outbreak “appears to be over,” federal health officials announced Wednesday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in an updated food safety report that it is “no longer advising that people avoid romaine lettuce from the Salinas Valley growing region in California.”

Since Nov. 22, the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration have told consumers to avoid the lettuce from California as they investigated multistate E. coli outbreaks.

A total of 167 people from 27 states were infected with the outbreak strain of E. coli O157:H7, the CDC said Wednesday.

A total of 85 hospitalizations were reported, and 15 people developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a type of kidney failure. No deaths were reported, the CDC said.

The ages of those who fell ill ranged from infancy to 89 years old, with a median age of 27. Several people in Canada also may have been affected.

The CDC was able to interview 113 people who fell ill, with 83 percent of them saying they’d eaten romaine lettuce, much higher than a survey of healthy adults.

Frank Yiannas, FDA deputy commissioner for food policy and response, said in a statement that the investigation is ongoing and they are “doing everything possible to find the source or sources of contamination.”

“The investigation into how this contamination occurred is important, so romaine growers can implement measures that will prevent future contamination and illnesses,” Yiannas said.

This outbreak was caused by the same strain of “Shiga toxin-producing” E. coli that caused outbreaks linked to leafy greens in 2017 and to romaine lettuce in 2018, the CDC said. The Shiga toxin can cause severe stomach cramps, diarrhea that is often bloody and vomiting. Severe dehydration can result.

Contributing: Joe Szydlowski, Salinas Californian

Canadian Food Inspection Agency Issues New Requirements For Romaine Lettuce

On November 22, 2019, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency issued a notice for new requirements for all romaine lettuce products from the Salinas growing region of California and for salad mixes containing romaine lettuce from the United States. The Canadian market remains open to U.S. lettuce, which constitutes nearly all lettuce in the Canadian market at this time of year. The United States exported more than $400 million of fresh lettuce to Canada in 2018.

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has advised Canadian consumers to follow the U.S. CDC’s public health advisement to avoid consumption of romaine lettuce from the Salinas, California growing region. Additionally, PHAC has advised that romaine lettuce harvested in Canada is not affected by the outbreak.

1. The Salinas growing region in California is identified as the counties of Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, San Benito, and Monterrey.

2. All romaine lettuce exports from California require a Proof of Origin, by means of a letterhead, on a separate page, providing that the lettuce was not harvested in the Salinas growing region along with the exporter signature and date of signing.

3. All salad mixes from the United States containing romaine lettuce require a Proof of Origin, by means of a letterhead, on a separate page, providing that any romaine lettuce in the mix was not harvested in the Salinas growing region along with the exporter signature and date of signing.

CFIA will update requirements pending any new information from the U.S. FDA.

The term “letterhead” refers to the corporate letterhead of the exporting company. The term “Proof of Origin” refers to the exporter’s written declaration.

For more information: 
CFIA National Import Service Centre
Tel: +1 (800) 835-4486 / +1 (877) 493-0468
www.inspection.gc.ca

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Publication date: Mon 2 Dec 2019

US: BREAKING NEWS - Number of Romaine-Linked E. coli Infections Continues To Grow

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DECEMBER 05, 2019

An additional 35 people have reportedly been infected with the outbreak strain of E. coli O157:H7 linked to Romaine lettuce harvested in the Salinas, CA, growing region. The number of people, now 102, was first reported as 40 when the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention issued an advisory Nov. 22 before increasing to 67 last week. A total of 58 hospitalizations have now been reported.

The number of states affected is now 23, and the latest date that one of these patients reports becoming ill was Nov. 18, meaning illness onset dates reported to date are prior to the public warning issued Nov. 22.

Epidemiologic, laboratory, and traceback evidence collected to date indicate that romaine lettuce from the Salinas growing region may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 and is making people sick.

The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and public health and regulatory officials from several states are investigating the multi-state outbreak.

As a precaution, the CDC issued an advisory Nov. 22 warning consumers not to eat -- and retailers not to sell -- Romaine lettuce from the Salinas Valley. There have been no deaths reported.