Loose Leaf Lettuce & Health Disparity



Owen Siegel

Mr. Roddy

IHSS

1/23/22

    The article that I read was about the disparity between the safety and quality of produce in low-income areas and high-income areas. I was drawn to this article as I was curious how large the difference between safety would be, and how the problem is caused. The University of Houston conducted a study that focused on loose leaf romaine lettuce. Scholars purchased lettuce from 10 different stores, 5 in low-income areas, and 5 in higher-income areas. They scanned each sample for dangerous microorganisms/pathogens. Their results found that 87% of the lettuce from lower-income stores had dangerous bacteria that wasn’t found in any of the lettuce from higher-income stores. The results also showed that around 505 of the lettuce from higher-income stores had salmonella in it. The University of Houston couldn’t find conclusive reasoning for this disparity, but some theories were crafted. One belief was that employees in lower-income areas were more likely to handle the lettuce in an unhealthy way, while employees in higher-income areas were sure to take safety precautions. The other theory was that the lettuce in lower-income areas wasn’t grown locally.

    In my opinion, companies, and employers in various markets should make sure that their employees are prepared to properly work with produce, and should put more emphasis on the importance of health in food. It seems very possible that employees in lower-income areas aren’t given proper instruction or proper resources in order to work safely, and it’s up to the company to ensure this doesn’t happen. I also think that there should be more emphasis on growing locally in lower-income areas and that food-related health inspections should be more concerned with production and how fresh it is. Safety should be the number one concern in any part of the food industry, and companies should be held accountable if they aren't putting in the effort to create a healthy environment, or aren't properly equipped to do so. Everyone should be able to buy loose-leaf lettuce without worrying about pathogens, whether or not they live in a low-income area.

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