News: A good reason to wash packaged lettuce

Washing lettuce is a weird little pet peeve of mine. It’s one of those annoying life tasks I’d rather do without. So, I tend to use bags of pre-washed lettuce for my salads’I just tear them open, throw the lettuce in a bowl and voila: Instant salad, no washing or spinning required.

But now this article from the Montreal Gazette has gone ahead and burst my salad-bag bubble. It turns out that a study conducted by the U.S.-based Consumers Union (CU) found that 39 percent of salad bags tested showed the presence of several types of bacteria ‘found in the human digestive tract.’ Ew. 

While none of the samples tested positive for deadly bacteria such as Listeria Salmonella or E.coli, the CU is calling for stricter safety standards in the preparation of bagged greens (most of the bags of salad we eat here are produced in the U.S., reports the Gazette), while Canadian food safety experts are urging consumers to wash their greens.

Even though the CU acknowledges the bacteria found in the study won’t make people sick, I’m sufficiently grossed out by these findings. I guess it’s time to dust off my salad spinner and (grudgingly) wash my lettuce.

Do you wash packaged salad greens, even if the bag says they’ve been ‘pre-washed?’ Will these findings change your mind?

Related:
‘ How to make fantastic salads
‘ Top 10 myths and truths about viruses and bacteria
‘ 5 myths and truths about public washrooms