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20 Years After the 2006 Spinach Outbreak: How Science and Standards Transformed Leafy Green Safety

On May 5, 2025, Mira Slott wrote the following for Forbes.com: Fresh produce industry frontlines its own rigorous, science-driven standards – epitomized by a self-funded enforcement model and data sharing program to keep lettuce safe, with broad applications.

On May 24, 2022, a lone gunman entered an elementary school in Uvalde, TX and shot and killed 19 students and two teachers, injuring 18 others. In addition to the lives lost and injured, the additional tragedy was the lack of action by the police and others charged with public safety. Why did this happen? Police clearly knew they should enter the premises and take out the shooter. Numerous studies on the so-called “bystander effect” have shown that people in large group settings are less likely to step up in an emergency. In fact, studies show the bigger the group, the less likely it is anyone will help.

When Jonas Salk invented the polio vaccine in 1953, he was feted in a New York ticker-tape parade and hailed as the “great doctor-benefactor of his time.” Compare that to today, when scientists and the institution of science overall are often met, not with praise, but with skepticism.

In Poor Richard’s Almanac, Benjamin Franklin took a turn on a phrase and said, “The rotten Apple spoils his companion.” In his choice of the personal pronoun, Franklin makes it clear he’s not talking strictly about fruit. In this spirit, two recent studies bring to mind the cost of one person’s potential negative impact on others.

When President Kennedy was shot? On 9/11? For produce people: When the FDA issued the "do not eat" spinach order in 2006?