It’s really hard to barcode a leaf of lettuce. As was answered 3–4 days ago, distributors buy their romaine from tens or even hundreds of growers in a particular region. The distributor aggregates it, cleans it, and boxes. Keeping lettuce from different growers would be almost impossible and enormously expensive. In addition, the eColi effects on the body take 2–3 weeks to appear. Can restaurants and groceries be put in the position of knowing which head of lettuce it used three weeks ago? I doubt it.