Today’s “Gray Matter” column in the New York Times provides an exceptionally well-balanced report that casts doubt on the healthiness of food from farmers markets—read it here. What caught my eye is how the author, a professor at University of Minnesota (my alma mater), lays out a number of positive correlations (being careful not to conclude causation) between farmers markets and various food-borne illnesses, including one attributed to the ‘droppings’ from dogs and the like. But the thing I most admire is him admitting to “a number of dogs that did not bark”, i.e., a number of outbreaks that did not show a statistically significant connection to farmers markets.
This suggestion of possible health issues with farmers markets is heavily hedged—very possibly it will not be borne out by subsequent research. Nevertheless it would only be prudent to thoroughly wash locally grown and sold produce.