Packaged Salad Can Contain High Levels of Bacteria

Civil Eats reports that in the March 2010 issue of Consumer Reports, “tests of packaged leafy greens found bacteria that are common indicators of poor sanitation and fecal contamination, in some cases, at rather high levels.” Organic greens fared no better than conventionally grown.

Recommendations are (if you are going to buy packaged salad) that

Until packaged salad becomes cleaner, consumers’ best line of defense involves following these procedures in stores and kitchens: (1) Buy packages far from their use-by date. (2) Wash the greens even if the packages say “prewashed” or “triplewashed.” Rinsing won’t remove all bacteria but may remove residual soil. (3) Prevent cross contamination of greens by keeping them away from raw meat and poultry.

I usually try to avoid packaged salad greens since they are primarily grown in California and must travel many miles to our stores, and in the past I’ve had a lot of success growing cool season greens here. This year I’ve reneged a little on that since our garden is in distress.