Company finds new way to grow lettuce, cut risk of foodborne illness

Copyright 2018 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The romaine lettuce outbreak has many consumers thinking about where their crops are grown. One rooftop greenhouse company in Chicago says their lettuce is safer and longer-lasting. Jenn Frymark, the chief agriculture officer and manager of Gotham Greens, pulls out a head of lettuce and immediately starts to eat it. “No, you don’t need to wash it,” Frymark says. “We don’t have that on our package, but there’s no reason for me to wash it. I never wash any of our lettuce at home. It’s amazing; nothing touches it; it’s so clean.” Here at Gotham Greens , lettuce is grown differently. They do it hydroponically. That means it’s grown without soil, but in a nutrient-rich water. Instead of a traditional farm field, this lettuce is grown on rooftop greenhouses. Their space on Chicago’s south side is the largest rooftop greenhouse in the country. Because of the controlled environment, crops can grow in a third of the time of a traditional field. “We’re giving this plant everything it wants: the right day temp, the right night temp, the nutrients, CO2 levels, air […]

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