The cyclospora outbreak that’s sickening thousands of Americans got us interested in the rise of Big Lettuce, and the challenges of keeping it clean.  So on today’s show, we tell you just how much lettuce Americans eat every year (SO MUCH!), how bagged lettuce came to dominate grocery store shelves, what that means for food safety, and why these outbreaks continue to happen — despite the FDA’s efforts to stop them. Check out other related episodes:<a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2018/08/24/641739640/episode-861-food-scare-squad"target="_blank" >Food Scare Squad</a><a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/09/26/nx-s1-5553615/gustavus-swift-m-e-pennington-refrigeration"target="_blank" >How refrigeration took over the world</a> Support:<a href="https://n.pr/3HlREPz"target="_blank" >Planet Money+</a> Read: Our book: <a href="https://lnk.to/i3AukBdD"target="_blank" >Planet Money: A Guide to the Economic Forces That Shape Your Life</a> Our weekly longform <a href="https://n.pr/3zrFvUB"target="_blank" >Planet Money newsletter</a>Our weekly <a href="https://www.npr.org/newsletter/indicator"target="_blank" >Indicator round-up newsletter</a> Follow: <a href="https://n.pr/3FqLuws"target="_blank" >Instagram</a><a href="https://n.pr/3sGZdrq"target="_blank" >TikTok</a><a href="https://lnk.to/iCVDaW3C"target="_blank" >YouTube</a><a href="https://n.pr/3h92GwS"target="_blank" >Facebook</a> This episode was hosted by Jeff Guo and Emma Peaslee. It was produced by Emma Peaslee. It was edited by Marianne McCune and it was fact checked by Sierra Juarez and engineered by Annlie Huang. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money’s executive producer.  Music: NPR Source Audio - "Electric Leak," "West Green Road," and "Melty Heart" See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. <a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy">NPR Privacy Policy</a>

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