Protecting Leafy Greens with the Vertical Growing Method
Vegetables like leafy greens are an essential part to a healthy diet, but all too often leafy greens have been implicated in foodborne illness outbreaks. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) a large percentage of foodborne illnesses in the U.S. are due to contaminated produce. In particular, leafy greens and other horizontally grown vegetable crops have historically been a prominent source of E. coli O157, Salmonella, Listeria, norovirus, and Cyclospora infections in the U.S. In fact, a study investigating various attributes of foodborne illness in the U.S. conducted by the CDC, found that among the individual food categories, leafy vegetables accounted for the most cases of foodborne illness with 46% of those being caused by norovirus.
There are many ways in which leafy greens can become contaminated with these harmful germs before reaching the consumer during the growing, processing, and distributing process. One such way is through the plant’s growing environment, such as from its soil or from the water used to irrigate it. Another common way which leafy greens can become contaminated is through the extensive handling and distributing process which produce goes through.
One company, Living Greens Farms, has decided to take an alternate approach to growing leafy greens in order to address the common ways in which greens become adulterated with harmful germs. This alternative approach is to grow them vertically instead of horizontally. According to the CEO and President of Living Green Farms, George Pastrana, in this method they “raise the roots out of the water, so they’re just suspended in air and then [they] mist the roots with a nutrient-rich spray of water”. This method allows the company to use 95% less water and 98% less land, as well as negates the need for the use of any chemicals. In this way, the possibility of the greens’ contamination occurring through its soil or its water is vastly reduced. Furthermore, Pastrana says that they are committed to the direct process of “harvest to a shelf to local retailers…within 24 hours”, in order to reduce the chance of the vegetables resting in warm temperatures during transport, which is conducive to the growth of bacteria.
Given the large amount of foodborne illness outbreaks linked to leafy greens in the past decade, Living Green Farms, as well as other produce providers, are beginning to realize the necessity to find creative solutions to reduce the potential for contamination of their products throughout the growing distributing process.
If you are interested in learning more about the vertical growing method, you can find more details about how it works here.
https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/communication/leafy-greens.html
https://www.cdc.gov/foodborneburden/attribution/attribution-1998-2008.html
