r/YouShouldKnow • u/hardasjello • 5h ago

Education YSK: Taylor Farms Iceberg Lettuce is sold under many different names

Why YSK, Taylor Farms sells their iceberg lettuce to many food stores using different names and you don’t need explosive diarrhea.

Here are some of the different names and stores that sell Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce

Earthbound - Taylor Farms

365 - Whole Foods

Simple Truth - Kroger/Fred Meyer

O-Organics and Signature Select brands - Safeway/Carrs

Greenwise - Publix

Simply Nature - Aldi

Marketside - Walmart

Good and Gather - Target

H.E.B Store brand

Trader Joe’s store brand

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89

u/snuffleupagus7 4h ago

Honestly, where can I buy lettuce that isn't going to give me explosive diarrhea? I am wanting salad so bad, it is too hot to eat cooked veggies. Been getting by on tomatoes, cucumbers, bean salad, pasta salad etc but I really want a crisp green salad or lettuce on a burger or sandwich.

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u/aspiring_outlaw 4h ago

Find a farmers market near you. Or buy some seeds and start a window box. Lettuce is very easy to grow and reaches edible stage pretty quick.

30

u/snuffleupagus7 4h ago

Farmers markets don't have lettuce and you can't grow lettuce this time of year here, it is a cool season crop and I'm in the southeast where it is super hot, unfortunately

9

u/EntertainerSuper8933 3h ago

Also, you can't trust many farmer's markets not to just buy produce at the HEB and dump it into their own containers.

3

u/YouStoleTheKishka 3h ago

As a produce seller, if you’re going to any farm stand with any variety of goods… they’re buying from the same wholesaler as HEB. We sometimes even go to our local HEB (our version of HEB) if our stock is low, and tack on a little margin. We’re linked to a farm too, and yep - we sell their crops, but we’d have nothing for sale 80% of the summer if we weren’t also buying from wholesale.

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u/EntertainerSuper8933 2h ago

OK, I guess I can't fault you for the economics. But farmer's markets aren't like the old fashioned farm stands we used to see growing up (I'm old) where during corn season, they'd be out there selling corn. During tomato season, tomates, peach season, peaches, watermelon season, watermelons, you get the picture. Now you, as a produce seller, are trying to compete with HEB and have everything including things that don't even grow on your continent available year-round

1

u/YouStoleTheKishka 2h ago

For sure, I totally get that. And I openly admit when you’re buying from a farm stand, you’re paying more for the “vibes” and nostalgia. Also, you’re paying to not have to deal with the rest of the grocery store. We also rotate and check all the produce we put out. A real scumbag seller will put bad produce in the bottom of the basket. If you ever catch that, don’t ever go back there. So there’s an argument that we offer the service of making sure you’re getting only decent stuff, although I think it’s easier to pick and choose quality stuff at a grocer where it’s all spread out. 

Thing is, people don’t realize that it’s impossible for a small farm family to survive on just selling their crop at a roadside wagon. It was impossible back in the 1950s too, and that’s why you saw a lot of family farms sold off or repossessed. One bad yield and you’d be financially ruined. Or, those farms you went to kept that wagon as a thing for their kids to do while selling wholesale most of their crop. It’s why this is just a summer hobby for me, cause I enjoy getting out of the big city where I moved to and bullshitting with my friends while we hawk veggies. Gives me a nice break from my white collar office job 😂

That same friend’s family owns a large farm (large for the region) and even that’s a hobby rather than full-time income. 

1

u/takenbylovely 2h ago

The solution to that is frequenting markets with strict producer-oniy rules.

1

u/AcademicOlives 1h ago

Maybe not in Texas lol. But in my liberal hell-state the farmer's market is regulated and vendors have to prove they grow their own stuff.

16

u/aspiring_outlaw 3h ago

You can grow it inside if you want. I'm in NC and have romaine in my garden right now. I just use the shadier part of my garden for it and pick leaves as I need. 

I mean, anything you get at a commercial grocery right now is going to be iffy since we don't actually know what is happening. Those are your two safest options right now. 

2

u/chronicallyill_dr 2h ago

You can grow it hydroponically inside, I have Aerogardens and grow all kinds of out of season things year round. It’s really easy too.

1

u/marislove18 59m ago

Grow it inside

6

u/I-do-the-art 2h ago

The farmers markets near me would take the Taylor Farms Lettuce out of their branded plastic bag and put it out on their stand with their own packaging lol. You can’t trust all farmers markets and all sellers even at reputable ones

1

u/ATMisboss 7m ago

Lmao my farmers market has a Taylor farms booth

1

u/FirstDivision 2h ago

Or a hydroponic / aerogarden kind of setup. Nonstop lettuce.

1

u/Sarc0sm 1h ago

I got an affordable hydroponic system and grow butterleaf lettuce and herbs at home. It’s not super high yield, but I could grow a lot more if I used all of the hydroponic space for just lettuce and leafy greens.

1

u/FarplaneDragon 1h ago

Sadly many farmers markets are compromised these days. So many of them are just people buying shit at costco and pretending it came from their own farm. The only way you can truly trust anything anymore is to just grow it yourself.

1

u/nem0ne1 37m ago

"Just grow your own" gotta be the most Linux-ass reply possible to "where can I buy lettuce?"

12

u/Pancakesandcows 2h ago

If your supermarket sells it, Little Leaf Farms is considered safe. They grow theirs in greenhouses, and they pack it as well.

3

u/Americanbydefault 2h ago

I am currently eating Little Leaf Farms red lettuce!

They also put out a notice about the outbreak which says a lot about the companies keeping quiet.

https://littleleaffarms.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/41829688864151-Is-Little-Leaf-Farms-lettuce-affected-by-the-current-Cyclospora-outbreak

1

u/Pancakesandcows 19m ago

Baby red and green leaf, is the one we get. I saw that statement as well. That, and knowing their process, is why we trust them.

7

u/doormatlevel9000 3h ago

Avoid lettuce completely until this gets sorted out. You don't need lettuce for a healthy diet, you can still eat veggies if you cook them

1

u/HumpHur 2h ago

The issue is this will happen again.

5

u/snowballmouse 4h ago

I've been buying Gotham Greens brand from Fry's (Kroger); they're hothouse grown, not field grown, and should be safe. They're a little more expensive than the house brand stuff, but its been worth it for the peace of mind.

13

u/GalumphingWithGlee 4h ago

Buy it from your local farmer's market. If there is no such thing near you, maybe just wait a couple weeks until this can be removed from the supply chain broadly... At least for the time being.

13

u/snuffleupagus7 4h ago

Farmers markets don't have lettuce this time of year, it is a cool season crop. Believe me, I looked. Lol. Maybe in cooler areas you can grow lettuce in the summer but I'm in the southeast where it is super hot

2

u/chronicallyill_dr 2h ago

You can find one locally grown brand at a lot of the grocery stores around me. Maybe check every brand at yours to see if there’s one? I’m in Massachusetts.

2

u/takenbylovely 2h ago

Eat seasonally with greens that aren't lettuce?

2

u/EmberinEmpty 2h ago

this. people are really gonna have to learn to do more of this.

4

u/mmechtch 3h ago

It's not in season. Just eat tomatoe/cucumber salad! Much better to eat what's in season.

1

u/YouStoleTheKishka 3h ago

👋 I commented a whole other thing below. But as a summertime produce seller, exactly this. People expect that we have an abundant variety of produce available to them all year. But they don’t consider basic elementary school lessons that… you can only harvest a crop “local” for a few weeks. Even the big ones here - corn and tomatoes - I can source “local” from July to September, and that’s only ideally if the crop hasn’t been impacted by rain, drought, pests, soil, etc. and even then, I’m competing with every wholesaler and farm stand not just in the region but nationally to account for their own poor crop deficit.

If you REALLY want to eat local and small farm, then your only option is to eat seasonal… and if you’re in a climate with a winter, bad news. You really ain’t got much for four months out of the year.

I sell produce for a side hobby. I still buy most of what I eat at a bigger grocery store. Why? Because I’m buying from the same wholesalers that Walmart buys from. There’s no “magic farm”.

2

u/chronicallyill_dr 2h ago

A lot of my local large grocery stores stock one locally grown lettuce alongside the other brands. I didn’t even noticed until this whole thing.

1

u/FarplaneDragon 1h ago

If you can actually trust your farmers market. Sadly there's a lot of those now where people are just buying stuff from costco and reselling it there.

1

u/GalumphingWithGlee 47m ago

I haven't heard about that, but generally at my farmers markets each vendor has to specify the name of the farm/bakery/whatever and where they're from. It's not just some nameless awning with fruit and veggies from who knows where. I think there would be substantial blowback if one of them turned out not to be a farm at all, just some made up name, or worse if there was a real farm by that name but the folks at the farmers market weren't actually from that farm. These would be going to court.

1

u/FarplaneDragon 35m ago

It's going to be depending on the market. If yours is that strict you got a good one. Sadly there are one's with policies like "51% of your product has to come from your farm" which means if the other 49% is just resold costco/walmart stuff they're in the clear as far as the people running the market is concerned. Whether there would be any false advertising claims or anything like that I couldn't say.

1

u/GalumphingWithGlee 31m ago

So you're saying it may be a legitimate "ABC Farms" stall, and the people at the stand actually do come from ABC Farms, but only half the produce they sell is actually theirs, and they're getting the rest from Walmart or similar? I'm pretty sure some of the stalls at mine sell produce that isn't theirs, but it's generally from some other local farm, and it's labeled as such. It's sad that profit overrides everything else in most markets today.

1

u/marislove18 58m ago

They’re not even trying to remove it, it’s also not just lettuce…

1

u/GalumphingWithGlee 44m ago

What do you mean? There are recalls on the affected products. Of course they're trying to remove it.

But they're still also seeking profit, because it's still corporate America, so they don't want to recall all their other stuff that's still probably safe. And we as consumers shouldn't rely on them to remove it before it gets us sick.

2

u/SilverDubloon 3h ago

Most states have a website through their Dept of Ag where you can find local farms and what they produce. For NC it's gottobenc.com. TN it's picktnproducts.org. Not sure what state you are in but it should be an easy google. Even if buying from local farms, farmers markets, or buying your own, all produce should be washed before eaten.

2

u/aznkriss133 1h ago

I've been doing shirazi salads recently but I guess you're burnt out on tomatoes and cucumbers but it's still some variety salad wise.

1

u/toucanlost 3h ago

I had some romaine from a different major supplier that sells to costco and haven’t gotten any symptoms yet.

1

u/pp21 3h ago

I mean go to your local grocery store and pick a head of romaine (not pre-packaged or hearts of romaine) and see where it originates from. I go to Frys which is owned by Kroger and their romaine in my state is Andy Boy brand which comes from California and has nothing to do with Taylor Farms

1

u/notmydepartment 2h ago

Taylor Farms has actually cancelled their recall, because the sample that was tested that was “positive” was deemed a false positive. So really man nobody knows anything. Wash your lettuce, drink water, live your life.

1

u/Truethrowawaychest1 2h ago

Spinach salad, or buy locally if you're able

1

u/Fast-Penta 2h ago

I don't know if it's available in your market, but we have hydroponically grown lettuce in Minnesota. I grow my own lettuce when the season permits, but I only buy hydroponic lettuce and have for years.

Between cowshit manure and poorly paid workers getting paid by the pound without adequate sanitation, eating farm-raised lettuce seems needlessly risky.

1

u/DCGuy511 2h ago

Just buy a head of lettuce.

1

u/MaimeM 1h ago

Rinsing it wouldn't help? Genuine question, I'm not from the US so I haven't followed the whole fiasco closely

1

u/snuffleupagus7 1h ago

They say it can't be washed off, at least not reliably. It is a parasite and I guess the eggs are stuck on really well in all the nooks and crannies that are hard to get to.

1

u/Than_Or_Then_ 1h ago

Im OOTL, what is all this about explosive diarhea?

1

u/vanhawk28 1h ago

Just buy whole heads of lettuce, remove the outer2-3 layers, and then thoroughly rinse everything

1

u/crowdflation 1h ago

Just switch to meat only diet. These days it even has extra variety of protein in it.

1

u/Space-Turtle88 1h ago

Shredded coleslaw mix makes a better salad imo. Cabbage tastes better than it did when I was a kid. It's more nutritious and crunchier than iceberg too. It easily replaces everything lettuce is good at

1

u/evenstar40 1h ago

Lettuce is one of the easiest plants to grow in a small, contained area. Pretty resilient, just be sure to pick it when ready. If you pick too late then it starts to flower. Yes, lettuce flowers.

1

u/marislove18 59m ago

It’s literally soooo easy to grow from seed

1

u/sapperRichter 41m ago

If you're in the eastern US all of little leaf products are produced in greenhouses and they don't use reclaimed water

0

u/_Jahar_ 3h ago

My farmers market happens when I work. I’ve found that Gotham Greens is good. It’s at Sprouts and some Whole Foods and I think Aldi.

-2

u/WardedBowl403 3h ago

If you’re just looking to grab a quick salad both Wendy’s and Chick Fil A salads are safe to eat