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Do You Wash Bagged Lettuce and Salad Mixes Before Using Them? (News on Why You Probably Should)

I know, I know, the bag does say "triple washed," but here's a compelling reason to wash your greens a FOURTH time at home. A recent Consumer Reports study found that nearly 40 percent of pre-washed salads (bagged or in clamshells) may be "contaminated with bacteria that could be harmful to your health." "They did a small study, just over 200 samples, and they found that 39 percent of those samples contained a family of bacteria known as coliform, which is a general indicator for contamination," said "The Early Show" medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton. "Twenty-three percent of them contained a bacteria known as enterococcus, which is usually associated with fecal contamination. Not what…

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  Now Is Not the Time to Eat Bagged Lettuce

When you think of food poisoning, perhaps what first comes to mind is undercooked chicken, spoiled milk, or oysters. Personally, I remember the time I devoured a sushi boat as a high-school senior and found myself calling for my mommy in the early hours of the morning. But don’t overlook your vegetable crisper. In terms of foodborne illness, leafy greens stand alone. In 2022, they were identified as the cause of five separate multistate foodborne-illness outbreaks, more than any other food. Romaine lettuce has a particularly bad reputation, and for good reason. In 2018, tainted romaine killed five people and induced kidney failure in another 27.

  Which leafy greens are healthiest—and which might make you sick?

And if you’re tempted to seek out those plastic containers of triple-washed lettuce the next time you’re at the grocery store, you might want to think again. Pre- and triple-washed labels aren’t regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and even these products have been recalled for contamination risks. “It makes a difference, but it’s not a guarantee,” says Jay-Russell. (And who wants to buy all that plastic anyway?) But, she says, if you do buy pre-washed, ready-to-eat, or triple-washed greens, you might as well eat them as-is instead of additionally washing it in your sink because the average kitchen sink is known to be a hotbed of germs. (I wrote more about that back in 2018.) If you got your greens fresh at the market—in which case, kudos to you—you do need to give them a rinse. The CDC recommends rinsing them off in water. Not diluted bleach. Not a vinegar solution. Just water.

 The Most Dangerous Food To Eat Right Now, According to Food Safety Experts

Picture this. You stopped at your local grocery store on the way home from work to pick up a few things for dinner, including a rotisserie chicken, a jar of dressing, and a bag of chopped romaine lettuce. Sometime after, you and your family are unexpectedly sick, and you imagine that chicken must have been undercooked. As it turns out, that bag of healthy, crisp lettuce was the culprit.

 The Truth About Bagged Lettuce

I’m a major salad enthusiast. I’m not just saying that to sound virtuous—I really like the stuff, especially when it’s drizzled with balsamic and a good olive oil and paired with a crusty piece of toast. Since we’ve already established that I’m a lazy cook and that I love Trader Joe’s, you probably won’t be surprised to hear that I usually opt for TJ’s bagged lettuce mixes instead of whole heads. Packaged greens are perfect: all the salad, none of the tedious salad spinner.

 Why Are Salad Greens Always Labeled “Triple-Washed”?

Making lettuce safe is a lot more complicated than you’d think. The author of this piece won the second Slate Plus Pitch Slam. If you’d like to participate in future pitch slams, consider becoming a member. Visit Slate.com/plus to learn more. Two bags of salad greens currently sit in my refrigerator. One, grown and packaged by Earthbound Farms in California, comes from my local Safeway. The other, grown and packaged by Riverstone Organic Farm, was handed to me by the farmer who grew it, on the land where it was grown in Virginia. The label on the Riverstone salad is relatively bare: There’s some contact information for the farm and some certification seals, but the main feature is the type of lettuce mix (Salanova), which is handwritten in Sharpie. The Earthbound salad label is a bit busier: There’s the company’s name and logo, the salad blend (herb), the net weight, a tracking number, and a tiny, italicized guarantee: “triple-washed.” For years, the “triple-washed” label on bags and cartons of salad greens has confounded me. Why do I need to be told that these greens were washed three times? Should this be the linchpin of my purchase? I’ve always erred on the side of caution and fourth-washed at home, but I’ve never understood whether that was truly necessary, and the answers I found online were often contradictory.

Articles of Interest

Are ‘Triple-Washed’ Bagged Greens Really Safe to Eat Without Rinsing?

“Do not rinse leafy greens labeled prewashed, triple-washed, or ready-to-eat because you will risk the chance of recontamination from your kitchen,” Halvern says. The other experts who spoke to SELF echo this advice, which also lines up with the CDC’s guidance: By cleaning them again, you might be doing more harm than good.

Broken leaves in salad bags raise salmonella risk 2,400-fold – study

Researchers say bacteria naturally present on leaves grows much faster once bag is opened, even when kept in fridge.

Do Prepackaged Salad Greens Lose Their Nutrients?

One study found that packaged spinach lost nearly half its folate, one of the B vitamins, after eight days of refrigeration, though another study found that lettuce maintained most of its folate content with storage. But most other nutrients, including fat-soluble vitamins A, E and K and minerals like iron and calcium, aren’t lost in water and are retained during storage, experts say.

I’m a microbiologist and here’s what (and where) I never eat

I never eat bagged salads, largely because one of my research areas is fresh salad safety. It has been found that bagged lettuce can contain food poisoning germs such as E coli, Salmonella and Listeria. My research group has found that these pathogens grow more than a thousand times better when given juices from salad leaves, even if the salad bag is refrigerated. Worryingly, the same germs use the salad juices to become more virulent, and so better at causing an infection. For those salad lovers alarmed by this information, most bagged salads are safe if stored refrigerated, washed well before use (even ready-to-eat salad should be washed) and eaten as soon as possible after buying it.

New study: Salmonella thrives in salad bags

Foods such as salad leaves pose a particular infection risk because they are usually minimally processed after harvesting and consumed raw. Consequently, it isn’t surprising that considerable research effort has been made into improving the microbial safety of salad leaf culture as well as optimising protocols for processing and packaging. But outbreaks still occur with devastating consequences and thus far very little has been known about what happens to the behaviour of food poisoning bacteria when in the actual salad bag – until now.

Should I Be Washing My Bagged Lettuce Or Not?

There’s an ongoing debate in our household about whether we should be washing bagged lettuce or not. From my perspective, I’m a washer. Any fruit and veg, I’m washing it – that includes bagged salad leaves. This is despite the fact it says it’s already been washed on the packet.

There’s Grossness Hiding in Your Bag of Pre-Cut Greens

A new study in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology, however, may convince you to dice your own spinach from here on out; “salad juices”—uh, gross—from damaged leaves are up to 2,400 times more likely to lead to salmonella contamination. Or as the study authors put it: “significantly enhanced Salmonella enterica salad leaf colonisation.” In the study, researchers used a mortar and pestle to grind up the salads and then analyzed the resulting juices for the presence of the icky bacteria that can lead to diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps

What Does 'Triple-Washed' Mean on Salad Packages?

If you take a look at those same lettuce packages, you'll probably see that they say the greens have been "triple-washed" and are "ready to use." But you wouldn't be alone if you've stopped in your tracks to wonder, "Do I need to wash these greens again?" So, what exactly does triple-washed mean? And are these greens actually safe to use right out of the package?

You May Want To Think Twice Before You Eat Bagged Lettuce

Many factors in the supply chain can contaminate the greens with pathogens — such as E. coli, listeria or salmonella — that can leave people sick, hospitalized or worse. “Bagged greens are washed and processed in large batches, which is an effective way to spread pathogens,” said Olivia Roszkowski, chef-instructor of plant-based culinary arts and food safety certification at the Institute of Culinary Education’s New York City campus.