Lettuce Shortage Affecting School Lunches throughout Lakes Area

DETROIT LAKES (KDLM) – A lettuce shortage is affecting school lunches throughout Lakes Area schools.

Detroit Lakes Public Schools Superintendent Mark Jenson says his food service director informed him recently that California’s lettuce crop was recently wiped out and Arizona doesn’t harvest their lettuce crop for another month. “I guess if you go into stores, there’s none, you can’t get salad.”

A lack of rain in central and southern California is primarily responsible for a poor crop of lettuce, tomatoes and onions – the drought conditions in an area known as the U.S. salad bowl have increased prices of produce across the country.

“We’re going to be short for about a month, and it’s not just us, it’s a real thing – this supply thing is a real thing. Hats off to our food service people – shes jumping in the car running to Walmart sometimes trying to find food and really making sure that we’re getting kids what they need despite the fact that it’s really hard to get.”