Food - Drink
Can You Eat Lettuce That's Turning Brown?
By CLARICE KNELLY
You may want to halt and exercise caution before throwing away your heads of lettuce in the trash just because of signs of browning. According to LiveStrong, this isn't necessarily associated with food poisoning.
Lettuce leaves can turn this muddy color for harmless reasons, such as bruising, oxidation, or "tipburn," which indicates they've been grown under stressful conditions. If the brown parts on your lettuce look more like tiny dots than a larger patch, it could signify russet spotting, which occurs when the plant is subjected to ethylene.
Ethylene triggers the plant to produce those small brown or black spots if exposed to other foods that produce the gas — a produce storage mistake you should avoid. You’ll be glad to know this kind of lettuce is safe to eat as long as it’s not wet, limp, or foul-smelling.