Department says new Ag rules are about safety

The Wyoming Department of Agriculture is proposing new rules for certain produce, eggs and milk.

Linda Stratton of  consumer health services in the department says the biggest change involves leafy greens.

“In an establishment where they are cutting and chopping leafy cut greens, they will have to keep those under refrigeration. They can’t sit out for more than four hours and that type of thing.”

Currently, restaurants don’t have strict requirements about how to handle and clean greens. Stratton says the new rules should help prevent outbreaks of things like salmonella.

Critics argue that local farmers and farmers market’s will suffer from the new rules … but Stratton says they’ll still be able to sell their produce the same way they have been – it’s just that now, when restaurants use that produce, they’ll have to conform to stricter handling guidelines.