Leafy greens vs. meat

Which is safer?

By Culinate staff

October 16, 2009

Pretty much any raw food, it seems, can make you sick in the U.S. these days. A recent article in the Chicago Tribune summed up the country’s recent food-contamination outbreaks, emphasizing the disease risks still present in fresh produce. The chief culprit: cut, washed, and bagged salad, beloved for its convenience. As the story points out, bagged salad isn’t so different, in the industrial food chain, from conventional ground beef:

What makes fresh-cut greens more susceptible is also what makes them convenient: the cutting and bagging that eliminate much of the work of salad preparation. That processing allows pathogens to get into the leaves, where they can flourish. The machinery used and the mixing of greens from various farms contribute to those dangers, not unlike the risks associated with processing ground beef.

And the labels that say “prewashed” aren’t so reassuring:

Even greens put through a chlorine wash can be contaminated.

Finally, the article outlined the controversy over regulations that may or may not eradicate the problem. Stay tuned.