Latest News From Romaine

The California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement has recently adopted Western Growers' GreenLink platform to collect and analyze food safety data from its member companies.

The Food Safety Modernization Act’s new traceability final rule, the Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement’s leafy greens assessment tool and the “Romaine Test and Learn” study seek to raise the bar and improve food safety.

What you need to know about the temporary, but heightened requirements to import romaine or salad mixes containing romaine to Canadian markets from Sept. 28 to Dec. 20, 2023.

The two-year "Romaine Test and Learn" study will collect and analyze food safety data from California LGMA members in an effort to analyze trends, gain insights and raise the bar for food safety in romaine production.

“Planting schedules just got thrown completely off kilter this year, and that just ripples through a season,” Mary Zischke, Grower-Shipper Association of Central California told The Packer.

Leafy green grower aims to grow 17 million pounds of romaine annually in new central Texas greenhouse facility, increasing romaine production twofold.

MONTEREY, Calif. — Revol Greens was flexing its capabilities to serve the foodservice market at July 28-29 International Fresh Produce Association’s Foodservice Conference.

Revol Greens is preparing for the opening of their largest facility to date, built in Temple, Texas.

The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) is advising consumers not to eat Fresh Express Sweet Hearts Romaine Lettuce Sweet Butter Lettuce due to food safety concerns.  

Our values guide us in good times and bad, and a clearly defined organizational purpose will articulate the benefits of our organizations to our employees, customers and society as a whole.

I remember vividly where I was on Sept. 15, 2006, when the Food and Drug Administration issued an advisory warning consumers not to eat spinach.

At its last meeting, the LGMA board voted unanimously to require its members to conduct preharvest testing of product grown in fields where elevated risk factors may be present.

Lettuce from California’s Salinas and Castroville regions is the focus for the next three months for Castroville-based Ocean Mist Farms.

Reflecting decades of sustainable innovation, hand-crafted expertise and high-quality products, Tanimura & Antle is rolling out new consumer focused branding to support its premium Tanimura & Antle Artisan® Family.

A recent Wall Street Journal article titled The Airline Safety Revolution caught my eye and should be required reading for the leafy greens industry and our food safety regulators.

Starting with a mini-romaine selection, Coastline Family Farms is introducing a line of products under the sub-brand of Culinary Bouquet, says Robert Verloop, chief operating officer of the Salinas, Calif.-based company.

Updating LGMA’s required food safety practices is an involved process that seeks input from scientists, food safety experts and the public. No other entity is capable of making widespread change as quickly as we can.

Let’s face it, Bill Marler has made a lot of money telling a story in which young children are the victims, lettuce farmers are the villains and he plays the hero.

The loss of confidence in romaine lettuce after multiple food safety recalls encouraged baby leaf and head lettuce greenhouse grower Revol Greens, Owatonna, Minn., to add a chopped romaine program.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is launching an assignment to collect romaine lettuce samples from commercial coolers in the Yuma County, Arizona growing region during the current harvest season.

The California LGMA and the Produce Marketing Association have responded to the Food and Drug Administration's update on a fall 2020 E. coli outbreak linked to leafy greens.

The FDA has concluded an investigation into a fall 2020 E. coli outbreak linked to leafy greens.

Hydroponic living lettuce grower Pete’s, Carpinteria, Calif., is launching Greenhouse Fresh, a line of packaged salads that highlights sustainability practices at the company.

Hydroponic vertical farming company Kalera, Orlando, Fla., is planning to begin construction on a production facility in Seattle in 2021, which joins a growing list of expansions the company plans next year.

Dole Fresh Vegetables Inc. is recalling organic romaine hearts after a sample tested positive for E. coli in Michigan.

COORECTED: As health and regulatory agencies seek an answer to what’s causing three separate E. coli outbreaks, one likely answer is sprouts or leafy greens, according to the demographics of past outbreaks.

Fresh Express is recalling Caesar Supreme salad kits after a random test yielded a positive result for E. coli.

Produce Marketing Association has announced a pair of virtual meetings to discuss the current state of produce safety in the industry which includes discussion of outbreaks in leafy greens and proposed FDA regulation.

The FDA is investigating three E. coli outbreaks, and although each one has a strain associated with current or past outbreaks linked to romaine, the agency said it has no specific evidence pointing to romaine.

A U.S. Department of Agriculture study on SmartWash Solutions’ Boost, a patent-pending treatment for iceberg and romaine lettuce before washing, shows the treatment is effective in killing E. coli.

UPDATED: A state agency in Michigan is advising residents not to eat Tanimura & Antle brand romaine lettuce packed as single heads, and the company has issued a recall of the lettuce.

Tanimura & Antle Inc. is voluntarily recalling its packaged single head romaine lettuce under the Tanimura & Antle brand, labeled with a packed on date of 10/15/2020 or 10/16/2020.

The FDA is investigating two E. coli outbreaks, and although their origin is unknown, the strains are genetically related to separate outbreaks in 2018 and 2019 that were traced to romaine lettuce.

The California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement has launched a website, lettuceinfo.org, as the ultimate resource on “everything you need to know about lettuce and leafy greens.”

The Packer's editor-in-chief Tom Karst, news editor Chris Koger and retail editor Ashley Nickle bring you the news of the week, from romaine rules to H-2A confusion to news about two Produce Retailer of the Year winners.

New Canadian food safety import requirements for U.S. romaine lettuce could cost the Canadian industry between $11 million and $13 million per week.

With added food safety compliance costs of perhaps $1 to $2 per carton, the complications are just beginning for California Salinas Valley romaine shippers and Canadian importers.

The imposition of new import requirements on U.S. romaine lettuce by the CFIA could have been avoided with better communication between U.S. and Canadian food safety officials, according to Ron Lemaire.

The Food and Drug Administration is scheduling three day-long virtual meetings on its proposed rule to increase traceability requirements on fresh produce and other foods.

As Canada prepared tighter import rules for California leafy greens, the food safety standards group that oversees those crops emphasized steps it’s taken to protect the crops.

Greenhouse grower Mastronardi Produce has a new lettuce brand, Queen of Greens, which will begin shipping in mid-October.

Members of the California LGMA, who grow an overwhelming majority of the lettuce and other leafy greens in the state, and 80% of the U.S. lettuce, say they’re capable of quickly tracking recalled products.

As the fall/winter growing season in Yuma, Ariz., approaches, the Arizona Leafy Green Marketing Agreement has approved new water and field metrics.

Cornucopia Farms, Marietta, Ga., is completing its first hydroponic greenhouse, with production of lettuce and herbs starting in October.

The California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement has made more than 50 changes to rules as the group continues a review of its practices following E. coli outbreaks in recent years.

The Food and Drug Administration has a new protocol for the development and registration of treatments for water used on crops before harvest.

The Food and Drug Administration has scheduled a web seminar on the agency’s 2020 Leafy Greens STEC Action Plan.

Romaine isn’t just for salads, and D’Arrigo Bros. of California, Salinas, is educating consumers on the versatility of the lettuce, from smoothies to grilling ideas, with the Romaine’s My Love campaign.

Revol Greens, Owatonna, Minn., has three new retail lettuce products.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency will be requiring that leafy greens from Arizona must be from a grower involved in the state’s Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement to be imported into Canada.