First it was spinach and now lettuce. Media reports of people coming down ill and in some cases dying from produce carrying E. coli bacteria has many consumers on edge.
Take Sue Clark, for example. "I know they've said it's OK to buy fresh, but how do you know for sure?" she asked Linda Carroll, an editorial contributor to MSNBC.
Dr. Neil Fishman, an infection-control expert and associate professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, said it does appear from reports as though food-related illnesses are on the rise but that may not be the case.
According to Dr. Fishman, a change in how incidents are reported may simply mean that cases that may have previously gone unreported are now being captured.
In the past, the government relied on doctors to make handwritten reports documenting cases where consumers became ill as a result of eating a certain food. "Historically," said Dr. Fishman, "physicians haven't done a great job of reporting diseases."
Today, labs test foods and, when they find bacteria, they are required to automatically report it to state health authorities.
While the reporting process has become more reliable, consumers such as Sue Clark are left wondering what is safe to buy.
"I used to buy fresh spinach, but I've switched to frozen," said the 42-year-old bus driver from Pilesgrove, NJ. "I heard on the news that canned and frozen are safe."
There is also an added advantage to buying frozen, according to Ms. Clark. "Frozen lasts longer," she said.
Carla Lape, from Salem, NJ, said, "I don't buy lettuce or spinach from the grocery store any more. I go to the local farmer's market because I know where the produce is coming from. We're lucky to live in a county with such good local produce."
Mary Fitton of Woodstown, NJ hasn't changed her shopping habits with the E. coli reports but she said she is now making sure to take extra care in washing the produce she feeds her family.
"I heard a report this morning about the lettuce," she said. "They said you can use soap. When you have small children, you have to worry more because this kind of thing affects them more harshly."
Of the three approaches to dealing with produce safety, Susan Bowerman, assistant director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of California at Los Angeles, advised following Susan Clark's lead.
Frozen food processing makes them safe to eat, she said. "And from a nutritional standpoint, frozen can actually be superior to fresh. That's because they are processed so quickly after they are picked."
Discussion Questions: Do you think the recent reports of people becoming ill and in some cases dying after eating produce will change the shopping habits of consumers? Will frozen vegetables, for example, get a sales lift out of this?