The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention claim that some 48 million people in the US get sick from foodborne disease every year. That is why California Polytechnic State University and Allan Hancock College developed a training program in 2020 for local growers of leafy greens like lettuce, cabbage and spinach.
Professors and students work with small growers in the Santa Maria area, educating them on food safety in the hopes that the leafy greens they grow won’t help spread disease.
“The area does have a lot of farming, it's a pretty large farming community," said Amanda Lathrop, a Cal Poly professor in the food science and nutrition department. She’s been working on this project since spring 2020. We delivered grower training to about 40 individuals consisting of mostly farmers and some of our Cal Poly and Allan Hancock students.”
