Bagged salads 'pose salmonella risk,' say researchers

Conclusion This laboratory study principally demonstrates that salad leaf juice – released from salad leaves when they are damaged or broken – supports the growth of salmonella bacteria, even at fridge temperature. If leaves are contaminated with salmonella, this isn't removed by washing in water. The results don't show that all packaged salad leaves are contaminated with gut bacteria like salmonella. What they do show is that if the bags have been contaminated with gut bacteria, these bacteria will replicate, even in the fridge, and there's little you can do to remove them. The best thing to do is to throw the bag out, although there's no way of knowing whether a particular bag is contaminated or not.   The study also cannot tell us whether we may be safer buying packaged salads unwashed, washed in spring water, or washed in chlorinated water. And neither can it tell us whether we may be safer buying non-packaged lettuce – it's still possible that an unpacked lettuce may have been contaminated at some point along the line. But any risk of food poisoning is far outweighed by the health benefits of eating fresh veg, such as reducing the risk of heart disease, stroke and some cancers. You should be reassured that the contamination levels in the food chain are in reality very low, with only 0-3% of raw food products found to be contaminated. Commonsense precautions will also reduce the risk: Hands should be thoroughly washed with soap and water, and dried, after ...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet Source Type: news