Across the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported there were nearly 20,000 cases related to Cyclospora
this past season which runs from May 1 through August. Out of those numbers, nearly 13,000 cases were linked to iceberg lettuce. In Florida, there were about 500 cases linked to the iceberg lettuce outbreak.
Cyclospora is an illness caused by consuming human fecal matter. In July, the CDC began recalling lettuce because of it, linking the outbreak to processed iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms de Mexico.
The CDC has said that the outbreak is over, but some Central Floridians are hesitant to return to grocery stores, and have turned to local markets and farms instead.
Why shop local?
Rockledge Gardens is a local garden center in Brevard County. It started back in 1960 by Harry and Marry Witte as a roadstand stand. The gardens were then run by the Witte's six children. Now, it's a nursery with a variety of plants and it has a market with locally sourced eggs, produce, meats, soaps and more. It's now owned by Brendan Hayes-Morrison and Devon Klingman, who were friends of the original family at Rockledge.
Anastasia Garcia runs the market. She said she picks up her greens on Wednesdays from a local farm in New Smyrna. Typically things like lettuce, arugula and bok choy. Since the recalls this summer, she says the produce flies off the shelves.
"There's a level of accountability, just human to human, that exists when you are buying from someone in your community that I think is a very powerful thing, especially now with so much distrust in corporations, in grocery stores, in politicians," she said.
Garcia said she's had to reassure people that even the produce she sells is safe. Customers have told her they're staying away from greens, and Garcia sees it as a way to help educate the community. When the outbreaks and recalls first started in the summer, she wrote a letter to residents encouraging them to turn to her market and provide some reassurance during the time of uncertainty with the food industry.
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"What I've seen is just a real need and sense of urgency from our community," Garcia said. "People are coming here, and they're even scared of our greens…we are very mindful about our purchasing, but you know, most weeks I would have a couple of things that I would have to throw away in terms of greens. Not anymore. I'm just selling it out. I can't even keep it on the shelves, because people know that they can trust us. They know that we are getting this from farmers."
But it's not just about this outbreak and these recalls, Garcia says this is just an example of the bigger picture, of why she runs the market, and why people should look to local farmers and retailers.
"We plant it ourselves, we grow it ourselves, and the community can come pick it any time," Garcia said. " We have herbs. We have a butterfly pea tea flowers, which Garden Party our vegan restaurant, has been making tea from. I mean we are trying to create a really small food loop in every way that we possibly can, and connect our community to healthy, clean food, whether it be herbs and spices from our garden or from Fletcher Family Farms."
One couple's mindset: just grow it yourselves
Debby and Dwayne Colon live in Merritt Island and have shopped at Rockledge Gardens for two years.
"It was so much more than just your regular garden center." Debby said. "So we came in and they had all these vegetables and plants, and every single person is knowledgeable about what they have here, and they're passionate about it."
Even though both of them grew up with a more city-based lifestyle, gardening and shopping locally is now a priority in their lives.
"With our small garden, with what we grow, we give stuff away to our neighbors," Dwayne said "It's only two of us, but we grow so much in a small place, it's more than we can eat, and we even put it in the refrigerator or freezer. But I think if people look into it, you don't have to have 40 acres and a mule. You can, you know, you can have a little garden, and you can feed a family on vegetables."
Plus, with the greens at Rockledge, Dwayne said they're so fresh, you can keep growing them.
"We have bought greens here at Rockledge and used some of the greens, put it in water, rooted it, put it in the ground, it came up, and we ate off of what the romaine grew," Dwayne said. "We ate off of that until it wasn't any more romaine, and we started the whole thing over again. So, just because you get it here, doesn't mean it has to end here."
For Dwayne, shopping at local stores and gardening should be a more common practice because you avoid some of the food-borne illnesses and recalls at big chains. Plus, by really knowing where your food comes from, he said it's reassuring knowing there aren't any added chemicals or pesticides that he would be unaware of.
"I think maybe we got too complacent," Dwayne said. "We allowed ourselves to fall into that. We should have always been knowing where our food came from."
Debby said while she's glad people are turning to their own communities and their markets rather than chains, it shouldn't have had to come to that point.
"It's unfortunate that we have to get to the scared part in order to make a change, and we're scared," Debby said. "As a nation, as a community, everyone's scared, whether they say it or not. Come just buy one plant. Start with one."
Growing greens
Fletcher Family Farms is a family-owned operation in New Smyrna, growing things like seasonal veggies and greens. The farm is run by Sara Fletcher, her husband and two children– and this farm supplies the market over in Rockledge with greens and herbs.
The Fletcher family grows seasonal crops, herbs, hydroponic greens and more. They also have animals like pigs, chickens, horses, ducks, and donkeys. They've had the farm for 11 years, the farm started out as just home gardening
"We wanted to just have food for our family," Fletcher said. "Then we decided that we wanted to do hydroponics. My husband worked for Volusia County. He was a deputy, a sergeant there, and he wanted to do something different. So, we ended up starting this. We did it for about a year, and then he ended up quitting, and then we just did this full-time. That was right around Covid, so like 2020 is when we started."
Fletcher says she thinks it's been the busiest summer they've had in years. From nursery to hydroponics, it takes about seven weeks to harvest the greens grown with hydroponics.
While she grows things like seasonal veggies in the ground, she grows most of her leafy greens using hydroponics, a method of growing plants only using mineral nutrient solution in water and that way, she can grow some crops year-round.
Aside from Rockledge, Fletcher sells at markets, does home-deliveries in the area, and even sells to local restaurants. She said the farm tries to advertise which restaurants they sell their lettuce to so the public can know exactly where their produce comes from at restaurants.
"Farm to Fit in South Daytona Beach, they've been using us for quite a few years, and they strictly only use our lettuce, and they have an awesome salad game there," Fletcher said. "They do some really good salads, so I think people are happy to know that they can go somewhere and get something that they know is going to be good and safe."
Unlike some of the romaine lettuce you can buy at the store that is more closed, the farm grows lettuce that opens up. Romaine lettuce sold in bulk at some of the chain grocery stores is more compact to avoid bolting. Bolting is where a plant starts to mature and go to seed.
"Our romaine is a little different than like the romaine hearts that you get at the grocery store," Fletcher said. "Our romaine… it looks like a flower. So it kind of opens up. It still has the nice, crisp to it, but something that we can grow in here that we don't want to grow something that closes up. That's where you get a lot of the, you know, you always hear of romaine being recalled and things like that because of the bacteria growing in it and stuff. So, with these they, like I said, they grow more of a flower instead of the closed hearts."
Even though the CDC has declared that the recalls on lettuce have ended, Fletcher hopes that people will continue to shop with the farm and local markets and farmers in the area.
"You're shopping local, you're helping a local family," Fletcher said. "And helping a local family, you're putting money back into your community. And not only with, you know, local supporting locals, but it's also knowing where your food comes from, knowing your farmer. I think we've kind of gotten away from people knowing where their food comes from."
Is it safe to return to big grocery store chains?
A survey from the United States Department Agriculture says the fresh market price, or price U.S. farmers received for fresh head lettuce, dropped around the time the cyclospora outbreak happened.
For every 100 pounds of fresh head lettuce in June, the total cost was $80.10, then in July, it decreased to $23.50. In August, that number increased to $26.4 per 100 pounds of fresh head lettuce. That's the last month for which data was available at the time of publishing.
While the CDC says the outbreak has ended, there were three cases of cyclospora in Central Florida reported after that announcement on September 11, one in Marion County and two in Volusia.
According to the CDC, "Recent illnesses may not yet be reported due to the time it takes to identify and report Cyclospora cases. It takes about six weeks from the start of symptoms to when CDC receives the case information."
UCF Professor and Darden Endowed Chair in Restaurant Management, Kevin Murphy said while this outbreak did affect thousands, people should not distrust the food industry in the U.S.
"People that are surprised that this is happening (but) it just happens every summer," Murphy said. "Now, not Cyclospora, but usually E. coli and Salmonella, because those are the things that come or most typically come from farm animals."
However, Murphy said this outbreak was different because the illness and its parasite wasn't as well known. The parasite that causes the illness is called Cyclospora cayetanensis, and it affects the small intestine.
Murphy said he was not surprised when the CDC linked the lettuce recalls to a farm in Mexico.
"We import food from 156 countries around the world, and some of them are safer than others," Murphy said. "Mexico has a history of their food systems, particularly with their produce, of their fields not being properly controlled. What I mean by that is farm animals, even human waste and floods and stuff like that, getting into (the fields) and this is probably the source of where the Cyclospora parasite has come from."
He said another factor of why this outbreak may have happened could be linked to funding cuts.
For the 2026 fiscal year, the FDA's budget decreased by $271 million.
The FDA and USDA visit farms overseas, to check and make sure farms are up to codes and protocols, but Murphy said that can be hard to do with a smaller budget.
"Last year they did about 1,200 inspections internationally, versus 90,000, farms and manufacturers so they've been mandated to do it but Congress has actually cut funding for them to do it so they don't have the money or personnel to go do it."
As far as some of these parasites and bacteria, Murphy said forms of low dose radiation can kill it on produce, but it's not a practice that's in place because of the public opposition to it. He said people don't want radiated food.
"It won't harm you at all," Murphy said. "Probably not if you (eat) a head of lettuce, but if you eat over the course of your lifetime, you eat 500 heads of lettuce, might be a different story in terms of the slow build up."
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