Geoffrey Mohan –

John McKeown, owner of Locust Point Flowers, makes an arrangement April 4, 2020, at the 32nd Street Farmers Market in Baltimore.

Supermarkets shut floral sections. Brides cancel weddings. Coronavirus hits flower farms at the worst possible time.

April 7, 2020 at 10:29 a.m.

It happened this fast: Shoppers frightened by the novel coronavirus ransacked grocery stores. Store managers shifted staff to restock shelves. The floral booth went empty. California's cut-flower industry imploded. Sure,...

Strike forces Halos grower to roll back pay cut for farmworkers

January 15, 2019 at 9:00 a.m.

A four-day walkout by 1,800 farmworkers who pick Halo mandarins has forced Wonderful Co. to restore a pay cut. Other job issues were left unresolved, though the nonunionized contract workers...

E. coli bacteria contaminated romaine lettuce earlier this year, killing five people and sickening another 205.

Romaine lettuce harvest about to begin, but past E. coli outbreak haunts desert growers

December 11, 2018 at 7:51 p.m.

Lettuce growers in the desert valleys of the U.S. Southwest will face more federal scrutiny during the winter growing season, in hopes of preventing the type of contamination with E....

Walmart will require California produce companies to join a blockchain-based supply chain that will enable the mega-retailer to better trace the source of food-borne illness.

Walmart to salad growers: If you want to sell, you have to blockchain

December 12, 2018 at 5:32 p.m.

Produce companies that want to sell lettuce and salads at Walmart and Sam’s Clubs will have to learn the skills of cryptocurrency traders, the giant retailer announced Monday. By the...

Strawberries are among the items Walmart now can track through blockchain, which has enabled the retailer to trace food from shelves back to farms in mere seconds.

Could blockchain have solved the mystery of the romaine lettuce E. coli outbreak?

December 14, 2018 at 9:03 a.m.

The first food poisoning cases came to light in late March — eight patrons of fast-food restaurants in New Jersey suffered bloody diarrhea and cramps that sent them rushing to...

Federal health officials are advising consumers to throw away and avoid eating Romaine lettuce, especially if its origin is from Yuma, Ariz., as investigators try to figure out the cause of an E. coli outbreak that has killed one person and sickened 121 others.

First death linked to romaine E. coli outbreak reported

August 19, 2019 at 3:54 a.m.

Tainted romaine lettuce has been blamed for one death in California, as federal health officials added more than 20 more victims to the worst E. coli outbreak in more than...

An outbreak of E. coli has been traced to romaine lettuce from the Yuma, Ariz., area.

Toss the romaine lettuce or risk E. coli, officials warn

April 5, 2019 at 7:49 p.m.

An unusually virulent strain of E. coli bacteria on romaine lettuce has sent 31 people to hospitals in 16 states, and health officials are urging consumers to throw out any...

Chickens roam freely as Christopher Nichols checks on the feed at a Nuevo, Calif., facility that supplies his family company, Chino Valley Ranchers.

Best-laid plans to give chickens room to run are shelved with USDA organics rule

December 17, 2018 at 3:09 p.m.

Strolling through a flock of free-roaming rust-colored hens, Christopher Nichols admits that no one truly knows whether his chickens are happier because they can strut around and wander outside. But...

McDonald's announced measures Friday to require its suppliers to raise and slaughter chickens more humanely, joining the ranks of other fast-food companies bowing to consumers' anxieties over factory farming of food animals.

McDonald’s will shift to more humane chicken slaughter policy

December 18, 2018 at 1:07 a.m.

McDonald’s took another step Friday toward softening its image with animal-conscious consumers, saying it will require suppliers to treat chickens better and slaughter them more humanely. Birds sold to the...

Josh Tetrick, founder and CEO of Hampton Creek, is shown in 2015.

Can you make meat without an animal? Hampton Creek is betting its future on it

June 2, 2018 at 9:12 a.m.

Josh Tetrick has gone up against Big Mayo, the egg industry, Target and his own staff and board of directors. Now, the 37-year-old food-tech entrepreneur behind Hampton Creek is vowing...

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