Cut Lettuce and Spinach Concerns

Concern is being raised over the increased levels of bacterial presence in cut lettuce and spinach. To cater for consumer demand, many supermarkets offer packets of cut spinach and lettuce. Although this may be convenient to the consumer, it is also very convenient to bacteria which find the enclosed packaging, complete with cut salad and moist conditions to be ideal for rapid multiplication.

Some of the food-borne pathogens that have been found in these packages include yersinia enterocolitica which causes diarrhoea and other gastric conditions and listeria monocytogenes which causes flu and a variety of other diseases.

Although some of the bacteria types can be removed by washing the salad, E. coli which is a faecal bacterium gets inside the plant so washing is not very effective. Food scientists are encouraging companies to follow the 'best practices' within the food industry, especially manufacturing and storage which they say will limit the extent of bacterial growth.

A simpler way to deal with the risk is for consumers to purchase whole bunches of spinach and complete lettuce heads that are kept without plastic packaging. To further increase protection the salad can be washed in a vegetable wash or even rinsed in water with a drop of chlorine added.

Within government the idea is to irradiate foods to provide protection from bacterial infections. The concerns over this though, are of loss of quality, the logistics and effect on the value. There is also the unknown effect of irradiated food on the health system.