Is There Sh*t in Your Salad? 39% of Bagged Salads Have Too Much Fecal Bacteria

TreeHugger / By Brian Merchant

Is There Sh*t in Your Salad? 39% of Bagged Salads Have Too Much Fecal Bacteria
And this despite the fact that such bagged salads often display claims of 'prewashed' or 'triple-washed' and attract customers who consider them cleaner and safer.

February 2, 2010 |


First the soda fountains at fast food restaurants, and now this--Consumer Reports has just published an investigation revealing that 39% of the packaged salads tested contained "bacteria that are common indicators of poor sanitation and fecal contamination." And this despite the fact that such bagged salads often display claims of 'prewashed' or 'triple-washed' and attract customers who consider them cleaner and safer.

Consumer Reports tested 208 different salads from 16 brands, and they note that they didn't find any seriously dangerous pathogens like salmonella or E. coli--though they do mention in passing that the Dept. of Agriculture typically finds traces of salmonella in 2 out of every 4,000 salads tested.

Instead, CR was looking for "total coliforms and for other bacteria, including enterococcus, that are better indicators of fecal contamination." The reason for the test was that currently, while there are federal limits on the amount of "indicator" bacteria that can be legally found in water, milk, raw meats, and processed foods, there's no such standard for produce. And so, CR set out to discover whether there was sh!t in your salad (or at least, bacteria that commonly, though not necessarily, forms in feces). Here's what they found:

Several industry experts we consulted suggested that for leafy greens, an unacceptable level of total coliforms or enterococcus is 10,000 or more colony forming units per gram (CFU/g) or a comparable estimate. In our tests, 39 percent of samples exceeded that level for total coliforms and 23 percent for enterococcus.

Some samples registered up to 1 million CFU/g. Which is a lot of bacteria per gram of greens. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/food/145526/is_there_sh%2At_in_your_salad_39%25_of_bagged_salads_have_too_much_fecal_bacteria

It's getting impossible to find decent produce, and everything's going to this pre-packaged disgusting garbage!

We go through about 6-7 heads of romaine every two days so bagged lettuce is too expensive.

:spank:

I never ate at the ubiquitous salad bars that were around a few years back. Too much coughing and sneezing. Yucky things.

I have, in a fit of laziness and desire for immediate salad, bought pre-washed lettuce in a bag and then eaten it. Without washing, so... gross.

Ah well, it didn't kill me and I've probably eaten worse without knowing it. Still, back to real produce for me.

I eat bagged salads at least once a week. My immune system must be made of steel.

if I buy it all separately to make salads. But eeeeeeewwwww!

I bet I could drink from the river in Tijuana and not get sick.

I guess we are really just building our immunity! :rofl:

EWW

(waits for bag salads to go on sale)

:D

there doesn't seem to be enough variety of feces in the bagged salad.


Who wants to eat the same old shit every day?

...with or without Fecal Bacteria ??

How difficult is that? A quick run under the tap, then a drying on paper towels. I don't get it why people don't get it. Do they NOT have anything other than iceberg lettuce? Really?

I'm astonished...

I put mine through the dishwasher.



Okay, I made up that last part...
:silly:

of the lettuce.

that is ridiculous...

sorry I didn't make that clear. There is a possibility of contamination deep inside veggies that grow in layers like lettuce, cabbage and so on. That can be 99.99% washed off by separating the leaves first. :-)

Not so farfetched.

the lettuce?

:silly:

(I have a recipe book by Justin Wilson that has a recipe for cooking fish in the dishwasher...I'm sure it's not a joke but I never had the urge to try it out)
;-)

Not sure if they just put it on a light rinse or what, but I guess the hot water is supposed to really clean them. :shrug:

:D

like that. All fresh veggies is definitely better tasting, and better all the way around, but I don't waste the bagged stuff. As crappy as it is, convenience is key for me. I get home at close to 6, feed and bathe my baby, get her in the bed, and then try to cook supper. I try to save time where I can so I can finally sit down by 9. Luckily tonight, my husband is home early so I do have some extra time. And I hate wasting food. So, yeah.

and I have never had any problems.

pesticides. I use veggie spray or a dab of dishwashing liquid then rinse.

it in a 1:2 vinegar:H2O solution for 30 min, then rinse. Before bagged greens, I hardly ate any greens because it was to much trouble and waste and monotonous. I love the varied mixed greens now, dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Worth the trouble of soaking to me.

That's all I ever buy, and that's how I'm going to think about them, as clean as the driven snow!

:P

those bagged salads are expensive and go bad very quickly if not consumed in just a few days.

I'm a salad lover & single and have figured out a method to make-up a large 1 gal container of fresh salad that stays fresh for a long time and is very simple and convenient.

Here is what you need:

1 gal plastic zip lock bag

3 heads of romaine lettuce = $2.00 - $2.25
1 10 oz package of broccoli slaw = $1.50

Slice each head of lettuce diagonally into 1" widths and put into large mixing bowl
Add package of broccoli slaw and mix well.

This will fill one 1 gal size zip log bag, store in the crisper.

Then you have the main ingredients for your salad always ready and can add tomatoes, avocados, croutons, or whatever floats your boat. You will not believe how easy it is to make up and how well it stores, and is so much less expensive and tastier than pre-packaged brands.

*Important - do not re-wash the romaine lettuce, buy the kind that has been pre-washed and the outer leaves removed

One of my students was the son of a local family farmer, and he said NEVER eat the bagged stuff. "You don't know want to know why it ends up being bagged" or something to that effect. There were a lot of dairy farms in the valley, and so the easy transference of fecal matter was a concern for the produce growers.

Does that mean there is "the right amount of fecal bacteria" and "too little fecal bacteria"? What is the RDA of fecal bacteria? I'm sure "too much fecal bacteria" is an FDA or other gov't definition, but it still sounds strange :)

every last one.

and what isn't. :D

Gotta run, it's lunch time


eek

:-( darn it.

I have an acquaintance who has lived healthily despite being HIV+ for nearly 25 years. He swears that one of the factors is that he soaks all raw fruits and vegetables in a sink full of water with a cap full of bleach for ten minuets before serving.

Eat shit and die?

I eat the bagged lettuce from Trader Joe's....I like the Sorrento and Champs d'Elyses. Never had a problem....yet.

"small amounts" being the operative descriptive. Anyway, pretty much everything we eat was at one time residing in the alimentary canal of some organism. Isn't that an appetizing piece of information? hehehe

So 'It's a little bit of poop can help ya!' Sounds like those old Brylcream commercials....'A little dab will do ya.'

Fertilizer = Poop, right?

And I have been reading that all of this 'sanitation' crap with kids today is leaving them with weak immune systems. I grew up on a farm....guess I have a strong system. Saw lots of poop piles....and stepped in a few.:blush: :rofl:

as I walked around their place. :D

Far-out and Right-on! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

literally :puke:

And I thought it was because the lettuce was getting limp.

since organic fertilizer is made from compost that is made from barnyard waste as well as decomposed vegetation. No matter where you get your salad greens you should thoroughly wash it yourself. I wash most of my fresh veggies and fruit with ordinary anti-bacterial soap. I once got a bout of food poisoning from a melon I ate because I didn't think about the fact that the rind was full of bacteria. The knife I used to cut through it rubbed the bacteria from the rind onto the fruit pulp.

and you get paid by the piece, not the hour...and the porta-pottie is waaaay over at the other end of the field....what would YOU do?

How dysfunctional! Don't you know it's mandatory that these serfs wear urine and fecal bags while picking?

First, buy those packages of romaine lettuce stuff 3 heads into a plastic bag. Take them out and run them under cold water while having a lettuce spinner (or a couple of kitchen towels) on the side.

After cleaning the lettuc, remove the thick part of each leaf's spine, then put them through the spinner or towel dry.

Now, open up a large zip lock type plastic bag that has a folded a paper towel at the bottom, and start placing the cleaned, trimmed lettuce it at the bottom in there, stacking it. You can get most of them in there that way.

Zip the bag closed, purging as much air out of it as you can and refrigerate. It will keep very well a good week in the frige, It will be ready for making salad when you are.

Best of all... shit free!

Isn't that GREAT? Ah... the magic of Rachael Ray!

and wash it first.

mark

at some point we decided it was icky & went back to cutting and washing our own lettuce.

Looks like we were right.

:scared:

Guess what I just bought. :(