Hydroponic Lettuce Was Seen as Safe From Salmonella, Until an Outbreak

Many salad lovers are confident that baby lettuce, arugula and herbs raised indoors are safer than greens grown outdoors.

Hydroponic growers advertise their produce as singularly fresh, typically raised close to customers, rather than in far-off farm fields. A string of food poisoning cases linked to traditional soil-grown leafy greens from California and Arizona in recent years has heightened the attraction of locally raised hydroponic produce.

Even greens grown in roofed-in environments are at risk of being contaminated, as evidenced by the outbreak of salmonella that was traced to a BrightFarms greenhouse in Rochelle, Ill.

The Food and Drug Administration conducted an investigation into the causes of the small outbreak, which is believed to be the first domestic inquiry into food-borne illness linked to leafy greens. The dangers that can result from failing to ensure clean water in growing ponds and the proper storage of materials are highlighted in a recently released report by the agency. The report made it clear that the greens in the industry are not immune to diseases.

Steve Platt, the company's chief executive, said that BrightFarms has a plan to strengthen its food safety and quality.

F.D.A. investigators were unable to find the exact cause of the outbreak when they visited the BrightFarms facility last July and August. The agency found evidence of a different strain of salmonella in an indoor pond and in an outdoor storm-water basin near the facility. The track is attacked by thebacteria.

Problems with the facility's handling of the municipally supplied pond water were found in the F.D.A. report.

The water in the growing ponds is not routinely treated or disinfected.

In a statement for Matt Lingard, the firm's vice president of agriculture and science, Korrie Burgmeier said that BrightFarms does not regularly clean its water. If the testing shows a risk, staff members treat the water.

The F.D.A. report acknowledged that BrightFarms tested the water for E. coli and treated it with hydrogen peroxide and peracetic acid solution, but investigators criticized the company for not having a systematic approach to ensure adequate.

The facility was criticized for storing growth material outdoors and for being susceptible to bird droppings and animal intrusion. The material is used to support plants.

BrightFarms did not adequately document that cleaning and sanitizing equipment, tools and buildings used in growing operations is routinely conducted in accordance with the firm's procedures.

According to experts, the F.D.A. report shows the potential for problems in the C.E.A. industry.

The report is a good first step for everyone in C.E.A. to say, "All right, we need to do more."

According to the C.D.C., BrightFarms began recalling salad greens in several Midwestern states in July.

The goal is to create the safest agriculture system possible.

The company shared the guidance from both the F.D.A. and Matrix in a private meeting with industry leaders.

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Cox Enterprises bought BrightFarms last year, which operates six farms in six states. In the next two years, it would expand its capacity by 200 acres, with five new greenhouses on the East Coast and in the Midwest and Texas.

In the past decade, Hydroponic agriculture has spread coast to coast. The BrightFarms site is housed in a greenhouse. Some are grown on rooftops or tower-like structures.

There were 31 people who fell ill from the BrightFarms outbreak. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, those who were sick ranged in age from 1 to 86 years old.

She bought several containers of salad greens from BrightFarms at a local grocery store.

She realized something was wrong several days later.

Ms. Hilliard, a certified medical assistant, said these were the strangest body pains she had ever experienced. She developed the worst of her life after the symptoms worsened.

Her husband drove her to the emergency room. She had to go to the bathroom as often as 15 times a day because of the diarrhea.

It felt like labor a couple of times.

Her doctor gave her stool testing kits. She got a call from the health department saying that she had been diagnosed with salmonella poisoning. The puzzle pieces clicked together when she was asked if she had eaten BrightFarms lettuce.

She said that she doesn't feel healed. According to her lawyer, William Marler, she reached a lawsuit settlement with BrightFarms for an amount she could not reveal.

She said she rarely eats salads anymore.

We were sad to hear that Ms. Hilliard became ill. Our insurers were able to reach a compassionate resolution because the root cause was not found on our farm.

According to the C.D.C., about 1.35 million infections, 26,500 hospitalizations and 420 deaths are caused by salmonella in the United States every year.

The F.D.A. is aware of the growth of the Hydroponics industry and will take any steps necessary to protect human health.

C.E.A. practices differ in important ways from practices used in open-field growing, and those unique differences must be addressed from a food safety perspective.

The F.D.A. took an estimated 300 samples of greens, water, and other substances.

A storm-water basin on a property next to the BrightFarms site was the location of the outbreak of Salmonella typhimurium. The pathogen that contaminated the leafy greens could not be determined if it traveled off-site from the greenhouse to the basin or if it originated in the basin.

The investigators found another form of the pathogen in the pond.

The report says that the importance of minimizing sources of microbial contamination as well as operating and maintaining production ponds in a manner that does not result in the spread of pathogens to product is highlighted.

Researchers at the University of Arkansas combed through past science journal articles to better understand the potential risks of pathogens in leafy vegetables grown hydroponically. The study concluded that human pathogens are readily absorbed into plant tissues through the root system.

One of the study's authors and an associate professor of food safety at the University of Arkansas has been working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Hydroponics research.

Whole genome testing was used by federal and state officials to find the BrightFarms consumers who were sick.

Not every outbreak can be traced back. Most people don't report food poisoning because they don't know what to do, said Robert Brackett, a former F.D.A. food safety director and senior vice president and dean of the industry training arm of the Institute for Environmental Health.

They stay home, they don't go to their doctors, and that's always significant.

The CEA Food Safety Coalition is formed by leading producers, including BrightFarms, according to its executive, a former U.S.D.A. under secretary for food safety.

The standards for leafy greens were released last spring by the coalition with about 30 members.

C.E.A. producers can get a certification seal if the coalition finds them to be in line with their standards.

More oversight has been called for by others. The Center for Science in the Public Interest is a nonprofit consumer group.

Hydroponic growers are urged to follow the agency's guidelines, which include recommendations for proper Sanitation and clean water safeguards.

He said that it was grown indoors and there was no risk.