Tag Archives: bagged salads

Waitrose launches UK salad bag

A new state-of-the-art 1.5 hectare greenhouse complex in Evesham is helping retailer Waitrose to stock British salad leaves all year round.

The new glass, which has been developed by Wingland Foods uses efficient LED lighting, heating and watering, reducing the environmental impact.  It takes 35-40 days to grow the salad in these conditions compared to up to 16 weeks in the field so the yield is almost three times higher over the course of a 12 month period.

The first salad to be produced is Waitrose’s British Chard & Salad Leaves bag, making the supermarket the first supermarket of the year to introduce a UK grown salad bag, available three months earlier than the usual May-October season.

Nicola Waller, Waitrose Head of Fresh Produce, said, “This launch is a result of our long term planning and it’s great to see the first of our British salad bags hitting the shelves so early in the season. Developing this innovative new way of growing salad leaves means that we can source from the UK all year round, going even further in our commitment to British farming.”

The salads are also grown to LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming) Marque Standards.

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Government issues update at E. coli investigation continues

On Thursday 21 July the UK Government issued an update on the ongoing investigation into an outbreak of E. coli O157 which has left two people dead and has been linked to prepared salads.

Public Health England (PHE) confirmed that, as of Thursday, 160 cases of this strain of E. coli had been identified with 153 cases in England, 6 in Wales and 1 in Scotland. Dr Isabel Oliver, director of PHE’s field epidemiology service, said, “We are pleased to see a very significant reduction in the number of cases with 9 reported over the past week. This could indicate that we are over the worst of this outbreak, with those affected reporting the last onset of symptoms on 5 July.”

PHE investigations have shown that several of the affected individuals ate mixed salad leaves including rocket leaves prior to becoming unwell. “The source of the outbreak remains unconfirmed and under investigation; we are not ruling out other food items,” stressed Dr Oliver. “It’s important to be aware that no individual wholesaler, supplier, retailer, or restaurant has been confirmed as the source and currently the Food Standard Agency’s investigations focus on the distribution of mixed salad leaves to wholesale and not supermarkets.”

She added, “All food sample results to date have been negative for E.coli O157, but it’s important to be aware that where food has been contaminated with E.coli O157, it is not always possible to identify the bacteria on food testing. A small number of wholesalers continue to be advised to cease adding some non-UK salad leaves to their mixed salad products pending further investigations.”

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

The post Government issues update at E. coli investigation continues appeared first on Hort News on 27 July 2016.