The Clover Food Lab has achieved near cult status for trucking vegetarian delights around town. Its locally grown ingredients are so fresh that, according to its website, it has no freezers, never uses any preservatives or flavoring, and always “allows you to see us making your food.”
That’s great, but a little more hand-washing was apparently needed, along with other precautions. Clover, which has grown from one food truck near MIT in 2008 to 10 trucks and four restaurants, is planning to reopen its outlets Wednesday after salmonella poisoning was reported by customers in Boston, Cambridge, and Brookline. A July 12 inspection in Cambridge logged a litany of violations, including keeping foods at improper temperatures, sloppy dishwashing and handwashing procedures, and deeply stained grooves in cutting boards. Clover CEO Ayr Muir wasn’t entirely repentant, telling the Globe that “we could do a lot better,” but insisting, “I think we operate some of the cleanest kitchens in the country.”
The types of violations at Clover aren’t entirely unusual in the food industry, but are worrisome given the company’s ground-breaking role in healthy eating. Clover gave a fresh face to fast food. Now it has to lead another movement — for cleaner food.