How Clean Are Bagged Salads?

By Lori Bongiorno – Nov 29, 2011

Packaged salads are certainly convenient, but they’re not nearly as clean as their "pre-washed" and "triple-washed" labels suggest. Ready Pac Foods recently recalled more than 5,000 cases of bagged greens in 15 states because E. coli bacteria showed up in tests. Consumer Reports’ tests found bacteria “that are common indicators of poor sanitation and fecal contamination” in many of the packaged salad greens it tested last year.

No one is suggesting that you stop eating salad. Just take some of the precautions below to make sure you're eating the safest greens possible:

• Always wash salad greens, even if the bag says "prewashed" or "triple-washed." Rinsing won't remove all the bacteria, according to Consumer Reports, but it may remove residual soil. Washing with plain water works as well as anything else, says Nestle. There's no need to use detergent, vinegar, or special produce washes.
•
• Buy packaged greens as far from their expiration date as possible. In the tests, Consumer Reports found that many packages with higher bacteria levels were one to five days before their use-by date.

Packages of salad that were six to eight days away from expiration date fared better, according to Consumer Reports. (It's also interesting to note that many of the packages with the highest amounts of bacteria contained spinach.)
•
• Choose fresh greens over packaged when you can. Bagging changes the environment in ways that might promote bacterial proliferation, says Nestle. A fresh, whole head of lettuce is usually less expensive than a bag of lettuce too.

Buying local may offer extra protection since greens tend to be fresher so their bacteria haven't had as long an opportunity to multiply, Nestle notes, and this ought to reduce the risks of centralized contamination. However, in the Consumer Reports tests, it didn't make a difference if greens were organic or if the greens were packaged in plastic clamshells or bags.

http://shine.yahoo.com/green/clean-bagged-salads-175300974.html

I agree. But did you hear about the woman who found a frog in her salad bag? She tried to grabbit grabbit!

eh my joke wasn't that bad after all : D



This isn't the story I read, so it just goes to show how common is it..
http://www.slashfood.com/2009/11/03/woman-finds-frog-in-bag-of-lettuce/

It's better to grow a garden and make fresh salad from the garden....that's what I do, it's oh so good!!!

Originally Posted by crimsontide06

It's better to grow a garden and make fresh salad from the garden....that's what I do, it's oh so good!!!

Isn't it very time consuming and requires a lot of work??

those things are skinned with chlorine and other toxic chemicals for which "allowed" standards have been set.
isn't it a lot safer AND cheaper to buy them from the market stall and use a potato peeler and a knife?

After harvesting, the carrots are mainly washed in chlorinated water, just like our drinking water, and cleaned to remove dirt and mud. Some finished baby carrots are washed, or dipped, by a further chlorine solution to prevent white blushing once in the store. There is no evidence that this is harmful, but it is worth knowing about!. However organic growers use a citrus based non toxic solution called Citrox (The ProGarda™), the natural alternative to synthetic biocides for the decontamination of fresh produce, food and beverages.

Sanitizers that can be used to wash or to assist in lye peeling of fruits and vegetables are regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in accordance with the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act as outlined in the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 21, Ch. 1, Section 173.315.

here's another website:
It is very important to thoroughly wash any vegetables you eat, whether you get them from a garden or a grocery store. Bacteria and other food-borne illnesses can stay on vegetables, and one way to kill these microorganisms is with bleach. There are several homemade vegetable cleaning sprays made with bleach and other household chemicals that will make your food safe and clean.

don't you think it damages the immune system, the body's natural defences which have been active since the beginning of time?
if it kills the bacteria, consider the minuscule effect it has on the body and blood cells and stomach lining,
no wonder so many people are dependent on antibiotics these days for simple illnesses.

and if you're going by fda guidelines, know that it is corporate controlled:

'Michael Taylor was just appointed senior advisor to the commissioner of the FDA. This is the same man that was in charge of FDA policy when GMO's were allowed into the US food supply without undergoing a single test to determine their safety. He "had been Monsanto's attorney before becoming policy chief at the FDA [and then] he became Monsanto's Vice President and chief lobbyist. This month [he] became the senior advisor to the commissioner of the FDA. He is now America's food safety czar. This is no joke".'

http://www.davidicke.com/headlines/52314-obama-appoints-monsantos-vp-as-senior-advisor-to-the-commissioner-fda

Originally Posted by islamica

How Clean Are Bagged Salads?

By Lori Bongiorno – Nov 29, 2011

Packaged salads are certainly convenient, but they’re not nearly as clean as their "pre-washed" and "triple-washed" labels suggest. Ready Pac Foods recently recalled more than 5,000 cases of bagged greens in 15 states because E. coli bacteria showed up in tests. Consumer Reports’ tests found bacteria “that are common indicators of poor sanitation and fecal contamination” in many of the packaged salad greens it tested last year.

No one is suggesting that you stop eating salad. Just take some of the precautions below to make sure you're eating the safest greens possible:

• Always wash salad greens, even if the bag says "prewashed" or "triple-washed." Rinsing won't remove all the bacteria, according to Consumer Reports, but it may remove residual soil. Washing with plain water works as well as anything else, says Nestle. There's no need to use detergent, vinegar, or special produce washes.
•
• Buy packaged greens as far from their expiration date as possible. In the tests, Consumer Reports found that many packages with higher bacteria levels were one to five days before their use-by date.

Packages of salad that were six to eight days away from expiration date fared better, according to Consumer Reports. (It's also interesting to note that many of the packages with the highest amounts of bacteria contained spinach.)
•
• Choose fresh greens over packaged when you can. Bagging changes the environment in ways that might promote bacterial proliferation, says Nestle. A fresh, whole head of lettuce is usually less expensive than a bag of lettuce too.

Buying local may offer extra protection since greens tend to be fresher so their bacteria haven't had as long an opportunity to multiply, Nestle notes, and this ought to reduce the risks of centralized contamination. However, in the Consumer Reports tests, it didn't make a difference if greens were organic or if the greens were packaged in plastic clamshells or bags.

http://shine.yahoo.com/green/clean-bagged-salads-175300974.html

Scimi