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Farmer says romaine recall hurts farmers

The president of Nunes Company, a California-based grower and shipper of romaine, says the nationwide recall is devastating to farmers AND consumers.

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to those who are ill, we don’t like to see this,” he says. “It impacts our industry but it really impacts the consumer and we do everything we possibly can on our end not to have this happen.”

Tom Nunes says the leafy greens industry stopped harvesting and shipping romaine immediately after the CDC issued the recall that has been linked to California.

He tells Brownfield the FDA is now working with growers to label the produce, so consumers know it’s safe to eat.

“Stakeholders in government over the weekend worked to come up with a clearer message- an all consumer package for romaine products that certain growing regions are able to eat,” he says.

Nunes says he is hopeful an updated advisory will be released soon with regions that can resume harvesting and shipping romaine. The FDA now says NOT ALL Romaine lettuce is contaminated. It says Romaine lettuce that was harvested outside of the Central Coast regions of northern and central California does not appear to be related to the current outbreak.

Audio: Tom Nunes, Nunes Company