Do you know why it’s called iceberg lettuce? In 1926, Bruce Church—University of California graduate, farmer and founder of Fresh Express—developed a way to get his head lettuce from Salinas to the East Coast by loading the freshly-harvested crop in train cars and covering it with ice. As the lettuce-laden cars rolled into stations, folks would call out, “The icebergs are coming, the icebergs are coming.”

Turns out, UC Davis food safety expert Linda Harris and her team also excel in lab safety. Harris, chair of the Department of Food Science and Technology, recently received a Safety Services Lab Safety Award by the UC Davis Chemical and Lab Safety Committee. 

The faculty-led group honors campus labs with a strong commitment to safety procedures.

(Originally published in the fall/winter 2018-19 issue of UC Davis Magazine)

Romaine lettuce and leafy greens contaminated with E. coli. Eggs, raw chicken or turkey exposed to salmonella. Given frequent reports of food recalls, consumers may believe contaminations are on the rise in the United States.