Well over the past month, the Food and Drug Administration has issued recalls and public health alerts over lettuce contaminated with Cyclospora and jalapenos contaminated with salmonella.

With outbreaks in the headlines, some Kentuckians are turning to farmers markets instead of supermarkets.

Here's more on that from Kentucky Edition's Clayton Dalton.

Some Kentucky farmers markets are seeing increased interest and business as consumers look beyond supermarket shelves for their fruits and vegetables in light of contaminated lettuce and in multiple states.

But heightened consumer consciousness didn't just start with these outbreaks.

It really goes back to the Covid 19 pandemic.

You know, we learned back when we had Covid, we learned that our our farmers markets were very important.

Our farmers were very important.

When you went to the grocery store, you didn't find things on the shelf that you needed.

So people got scared because they ran out of food.

So it turned everybody to our farmer's market to turn to everybody, to our farm markets and everything as well.

Directly to our farm, directly to our farmers.

But with this outbreak, now everything with the lettuce, and now also has peppers and everything, too.

It's turning everybody back to our farmers markets.

I have been with farmers markets for over 13 years, and so I've seen the community respond to lots of different outbreaks and especially during Covid, I think that, people lost confidence in the, regional or even national food system.

They would go to the big box stores, which they had relied on for many years, and not be able to find the products that they wanted to be able to buy.

And now as we look at different outbreaks, whether it's with Cyclosporiasis or whether it is with salmonella.

People want to be able to have confidence that they know where their products are coming from and know how, to keep themselves and their families safe when it comes to food.

The Kentucky Department of Agriculture has training programs to help farmers ensure they're selling clean, quality products at their stands.

We've got some of the best producers around.

They go through trainings, they they're educated on how to handle the food.

So that way we don't have those food scares here in Kentucky.

We've got about 4000 individuals that has been trained and produce best practice training that's here in Kentucky.

So that's a lot of folks that's handling your food.

But the big thing is getting a face on your food, talking to that farmer and finding out exactly how they grow it.

England says farmer's markets are a great alternative for Kentuckians who feel overwhelmed by the outbreaks.

I get to talk to customers every week and so they say to me, it's confusing, it's overwhelming.

So I really just want to find somewhere I can trust.

And whether that's the Lexington Farmers Market or a farmer's market, in their community, they really want to be able to trust the farmer, trust the food that they're going to eat.

And that's what it really comes down to.

We want to make sure that we're providing a safe, quality product to our neighbors or friends.

This trend isn't just beneficial for shoppers.

It's good for farmers and the local economy.

People are wanting to know their farmers, people are wanting to support their farmers because they realize that makes a difference.

The money is stored locally, so it helps the local community, the local economy.

It helps our farmers and keeps the farms in generations to come.

Since 2009, the number of farmers markets in Kentucky has almost doubled, jumping from 93 to 174.

Today, all but eight of Kentucky's counties have a farmers market.

For Kentucky edition, I'm Clayton Dalton.

Other forms of direct farm marketing are also seeing success in Kentucky, like community supported agriculture or CSAs.

That's where members pay a farmer in advance for weekly shares of the farm's harvest.