Aug 2, 2005 9:50 am US/Central
What's In Your Lettuce?
by Terri Gruca
(WCCO)
More and more Minnesotans are reaching for prepackaged bagged lettuce instead of spending time washing, chopping and tossing salad.
The pre-bagged lettuce is cut and washed and local grocery stores stock many varieties.
While it may be convenient, you could also be getting bacteria with your lettuce.
WCCO-TV brought a variety of bagged and regular head lettuce to the Minnesota Valley Testing Labs in New Ulm, Minn.
Gloria Anderson is a microbiologist who tested the leafy greens for different types of bacteria.
"You've got all the environmental conditions," Anderson said. "You've got the soil bacteria, you've got bacteria in the air, you've got other sources of bacteria, so fresh fruit and vegetables are exposed to a lot more bacteria just environmentally."
Anderson found bacteria in all the samples of lettuce, even the bagged kind which said the lettuce was "triple washed" and "ready to eat".
"We did not find any E-coli, so that's a good thing," Anderson said.
The lettuce with the lowest bacteria count was the simple, unprocessed head of leaf lettuce.
"Whereas the head lettuce, you have, you would assume that ... would have the bacteria more on the outside so it's not throughout the whole head itself," Anderson said.
Francisco Diez is a food safety scientist at the University of Minnesota. He said there is no reason to be worried.
"We eat bacteria every day," Diez said. "Almost every single food that has not been thoroughly processed has bacteria, but the majority of those organisms are completely harmless."
Diez said bagged lettuce is safe and adds some companies are using chlorine rinses before bagging the lettuce to reduce bacteria.
He said it does not hurt to wash all fresh produce.
"I think that rule of thumb that we always recommend to consumers," Diez said. "It doesn't matter where you get it. If you wash it, you're going to be better."
Other tips for cleaning lettuce include rinsing it in a colander and not letting the lettuce soak. Experts also recommend using vinegar because the acid in the vinegar will kill germs.
Experts also recommend eating the lettuce right after it is washed and eating the bagged salad before its "best by" date.
(© MMV, CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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