The recent salmonella outbreak in Australia, which has been blamed on prepacked lettuce leaves from Victoria, has led to a boost in organic lettuce sales.
The South Australian Produce Market where growers sell their fruit and vegetables to SA’s privately owned supermarkets and fresh produce stores reports sales of organic lettuce leaves has jumped 30 per cent since the recall notices last Thursday 4 February, and sales of loose salad mix are up by 5 per cent.
However, sales of locally grown prepacked lettuce leaves which are not subject to the recall have dropped by 15 per cent.
South Australian Produce Market chief executive Angelo Demasi said it is unfortunate the reputation of ‘clean and green’ locally grown produce has been tainted by the unrelated salmonella outbreak interstate.
“The outbreak does not affect the lettuces — whole or loose — sold in independent retailers such as Foodland and IGA supermarkets and the hundreds of family-owned fruit and vegetable stores serving their local communities around SA,” Mr Demasi said.
“What we are seeing is the tarnishing of consumer perceptions of prepacked lettuce, so shoppers are taking the time to hand-pick the loose leaves, especially the organic salad mixes, because they trust it more following last week’s recall."
Source: adelaidenow.com.au