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The Americans were warned Tuesday to stop eating romaine lettuce. But this local product is not afraid.
The Stillman's Farm product booth on the Boston marketplace still sold Romaine lettuce on Wednesday, while other stores and restaurants – local and national chains – either removed their romaine or replaced it with other types of vegetables. leaves.
The aversion to the Roman Wednesday came after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched a bomb reminiscent of a warning Tuesday, calling on people to stop eating Roman in all its forms after an epidemic of E. Coli causing the disease of 32 people in 11 states Hampshire and Connecticut. The CDC also said that retailers should remove the Roman from their shelves and that restaurants should refrain from serving it until further notice, as investigators seek to determine the source of the outbreak.
At least one local expert also urged consumers to take the warning seriously, saying that it was simply not worth it to throw caution in the wind.
"Honestly, do you really want to run the risk when there are other kinds of lettuce?" Said Dr. Darin Detwiler, a professor of food policy at Northeastern University.
However, the Stillman's Farm salad bar still offered a Roman tank to those who wanted to take charge.
"Our Roman is of local and organic origin," said Kate Jenkins-Sullivan, director of the farm stand at the Boston Public Market. "We know where it comes from."
Stillman's Farm, a family-owned business located in the city of New Braintree, central Massachusetts, boasts on its website the use of a "conscientious" and "holistic" approach to its farming activity, which is defined as "a leader in healthy products and plants. "
At 1 pm, Jenkins-Sullivan said several people had already bought Roman-containing salads at the booth – and noted that she had eaten it that morning as well. (And look, she added – she was still there, standing up and in good health.)
"Nobody is concerned," she says. "We get it from a small, controlled environment, as opposed to a large industrial environment." (Even though temperatures were falling throughout Massachusetts, Jenkins-Sullivan said the farm uses blankets and a greenhouse to keep growing during the colder months.)
Lainey Chippero, a sales clerk at the booth, seemed amused by the fact that one journalist was concerned enough to ask questions about the safety of their lettuce, saying that she felt "extremely confident" to serve her.
"We know who grows it, we know it's safe," she said, adding that the farmer had just dropped off at the stand itself on Wednesday afternoon. "I mean, we get like, 10 heads of lettuce at a time."
However, the same can not be said of all the stores in the public market. A sign affixed to a cash register for Inna's Kitchen indicated that the iceberg had been temporarily replaced by an iceberg – although the workers seemed rather apathetic.
"It did not really affect us," said Kiki Jones, a catering server at the Inna booth. "We only had one person who asked about it."
At the same time, it has been advised to more than 6,000 Massachusetts restaurants and grocery stores to stop serving or storing romaine lettuce until further notice, trade groups said.
Bob Luz, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, said the message had been delivered to about 5,500 member institutions before the peak dinner on Tuesday.
"La Romaine is not only used in Caesar salads," he said. "It is used in mixed green salads, possibly on hamburgers. It is used in several appetizers and salads. And in the short term, these menu offers may look "slightly different" when they arrive at the table, Luz said.
The Massachusetts Food Association, which represents hundreds of grocers across the state, also informed its members of the federal public notice via e-mail on Tuesday.
"Being Thanksgiving week, many people are [normally] consume this product, "said Brian Houghton, executive vice president of government affairs and communications group, while he was talking about the financial impact on member stores. "It's more important than a normal week."
The big chains also took into account the warning of the CDC. Sweetgreen, Boston's famed national salad company, tweeted a statement Tuesday night claiming the chain was pulling all the romaine out of its stores until further notice.
"According to the CDC's recent announcement, we are proactively removing all of the country's Roman and Spring blends from the country's Sweetgreen restaurants until the CDC provides information on the specific growth regions affected." the channel in his tweet.
Detwiler, the Northeastern Food Policy professor – who said his own son had died from an E. coli infection – said that buying in a small local farm could be a best choice for those who are determined to consume romaine, but he warned that it may not be 100% safe.
"It is possible that this is a better choice because it is not part of a national distributor, but we have an active epidemic in progress," he said. "We do not know the source, but we know that this is related to romaine lettuce."
He also said that the government's warning seemed serious enough that it was not ignored.
"How many times does the CDC say," Do not eat that? "" If the CDC do their best to tell you not to eat this, then you do not eat that. "
Officials at the CDC said Wednesday that the Food and Drug Administration is still working to determine where the contaminated Roman comes from.
However, in the meantime, even small farms are not necessarily sure of selling lettuce, said CDC spokesman Bert Kelly.
"At the moment, our advice is universal," said Kelly, adding that the warning even extends to "mom and pop" operations. "We suggest that no one eat it, and do not buy it, and nobody sells it until we have determined the source."
The CDC did not have any other updates on the outbreak early Wednesday night.
Travis Andersen of Globe staff contributed to this report.
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