Walmart is going into business with agriculture… again

This week Walmart and Plenty Unlimited Inc announced Walmart’s investment in vertical farming. According to the press release, this makes Walmart the first large U.S. retailer to be a significant investor in vertical farming.

Products that come from this partnership will be the source of Plenty’s leafy greens for all Walmart’s California stores later in 2022. The technology will give customers access to fresh green all year long—no matter the season.

The indoor farming facility combines engineering, software, and sustainable crop science to grow on a multi-crop platform.

Walmart’s Ag Connection

This is not Walmart’s first venture into the ag industry. The company’s opened a milk processing plant back in 2018. Then in 2019, Walmart entered the beef industry by developing an end-to-end supply chain for Angus beef.

Salad Recall Update

Remember last month’s salad recall? Well, it’s not over yet, there is still some risk of getting sick from it.

When the recall was announced, people across 13 states, including Iowa, were advised to throw away salad with expiration dates ranging from November 30, 2021, through January 8^th, 2022 due to an outbreak in Listeria monocytogenes infections.

However, if you still got your hands on one of those salads or you even just missed the date, there is still a chance you could get sick. It can take infected people up to 70 days for symptoms to develop.

Facilities linked to the Listeria outbreak in Dole products were reopened a little over a week ago.

According to an article with Food Safety News, a Dole spokesperson confirmed facilities in Arizona and North Carolina had reopened but they did not elaborate on any investigation relating to the recalls/ outbreak.