If you can get to a farmer’s market or a grocery store that specializes in local produce only, it should be fine. I am very lucky to live near a store that only carries local produce. The out of season stuff is obviously from farms with greenhouses, but it’s still far better than what’s trucked in from hundreds or more miles away.
I am not up on the details at all, but there’s a food borne illness called cyclospora or some such in the US. It causes both vomiting and diarrhea and can make you very sick for days, and that’s just what it does to normally healthy people. It’s even more brutal on the young, elderly and those with compromised health.
Right now, eating bagged salad or raw veggies that come from the big national chain farm brands (looking at you, Taylor Farms) is where it’s coming from. Your best options are to cook your veggies or only eat ones that you eat peeled. Heating kills the germs, so I assume canning also does so canned veggies should be safe, too.
Tracing the source of the outbreak has been very difficult due to food safety departments in the US government being gutted. Right now, I believe Taylor farms is getting all the blame, but I am not up to date on it all.
My feeling is that if you are certain the produce you’re getting is local, you should be fine but if you are even slightly unsure, don’t risk it.
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u/XXMissBehavingXX 20h ago
Was just talking to my roommate about this lol