Mar 17 2010
salad
Sourse:Greek Salad Recipe
Consumer Reports' latest tests of packaged leafy greens found bacteria that are common indicators of poor sanitation and fecal contamination, in some cases, at rather high levels. The story appears in the March 2010 issue of Consumer Reports and is also available free online. Consumers Union today also issued a report urging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to set safety standards for greens. FDA food safety legislation pending in the Senate, and passed last summer by the House of Representatives, would require the FDA to create just such safety standards.
The tests, which were conducted with financial support from the Pew Health Group, assessed for several types of bacteria, including total coliforms and Enterococcus–”indicator organisms” found in the human digestive tract and in the ambient environment that can signal inadequate sanitation and the potential for the presence of disease-causing organisms. While there are no existing federal standards for indicator bacteria in salad greens, there are standards for these bacteria in milk, beef, and drinking water. Several industry consultants suggest that an unacceptable level in leafy greens would be 10,000 or more colony forming units per gram (CFU/g).
Consumer Reports found that 39 percent of samples exceeded this level for total coliform, and 23 percent for Enterococcus. The tests did not find E. coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes or Salmonella–sometimes deadly pathogens which can be found in greens, although it was not expected given the small sample size. According to Consumers Union, the goal was to investigate other markers of poor sanitation that should be used in the food safety management of produce.
“Although these 'indicator' bacteria generally do not make healthy people sick, the tests show not enough is being done to assure the safety or cleanliness of leafy greens,” said Dr. Michael Hansen, senior scientist at Consumers Unions, nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports. “Levels of bacteria varied widely, even among different samples of the same brand. More research and effort is needed within the industry to better protect the public. In the meantime, consumers should buy packages of greens that are as far from the use-by date as possible.”
For its latest analysis, Consumer Reports had an outside lab test 208 containers of 16 brands of salad greens, sold in plastic clamshells or bags, bought last summer from stores in Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York. Among the findings:
- 39 percent of samples exceeded 10,000 CFUs (or another similar measure) per gram for total coliforms and 23 percent for Enterococcus, the levels industry consultants deemed unacceptable.
- 2 percent of samples exceeded French and 5 percent Brazilian standards for fecal coliform bacteria.
- Many packages containing spinach, and packages which were one to five days from their use-by date, had higher bacterial levels. Packages six to eight days from their use-by date generally fared better.
- Whether the greens came in a clamshell or bag, included “baby” greens, or were organic made no difference in bacteria levels.
- Brands for which there were more than four samples, including national brands Dole, Earthbound Farm Organic, and Fresh Express, plus regional and store brands, had at least one package with relatively high levels of total coliforms or Enterococcus.
CU is calling on the Senate to pass pending FDA food safety reform legislation that requires the agency to set performance standards as well as develop safety standards for the growing or processing of fresh produce. It's also asking that FDA formally declare certain pathogenic bacteria–such as E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella, and Listeria–be considered adulterants when found in salad greens.
Until packaged salad becomes cleaner, consumers' best line of defense involves following these procedures in stores and kitchens:
- Buy packages far from their use-by date.
- Wash the greens even if the packages say “prewashed” or “triplewashed.” Rinsing won't remove all bacteria but may remove residual soil.
- Prevent cross contamination of greens by keeping them away from raw meat and poultry.
Originally posted on CivilEats.com
On a bright, mild winter day, I find myself eating a Signature Salad at Cosi®, a chain of casual restaurants which puts a little emblem next to its name to note that it has a legal lock on this completely ordinary Italian word. I'm the only customer, which doesn't bother me at all, because I have a copy of Walden, by Henry David Thoreau, open on the table in front of me. This is a book that assures me solitude is a desirable condition.
I'm in Cosi® because I've just moved and I'm wandering the new neighborhood searching for likely a likely place to get a haircut. I'm reading Thoreau because I want to hear what the agricultural counter-culture sounded like in the middle of the 19th century.
Walden is vaguely familiar from high school and a pleasure to reread, now that I'm more attuned to Thoreau's irony as he riffs on the marginal profits of growing beans. What is distracting, though, is my salad, a menu standard that is offered in every Cosi® restaurant, every day of the year. It is, as they say, their Signature dish. And it consists of ingredients that, until very recently, could never ever have been found in the same time and the same place.
The Signature Salad embodies the triumph of global food supply. Baby lettuce, the first sign of spring, is embellished with fresh grapes and pears, fruits that don't ripen until fall. Dried cranberries, North America's bog-bound contribution to the fruits of the world, are paired with pistachio nuts, a crop that requires a hot, semi-arid climate where cranberries could never grow. As for the Gorgonzola cheese, it probably comes from California or Wisconsin, not from the Italian town that claims to have invented the cheese over a thousand years ago–which means its presence here on my plate represents another aspect of the globalization of modern food production.
Did Thoreau ever eat a pistachio nut or taste a wedge of blue-veined Gorgonzola cheese? It's possible. His reclusive pose was a bit of a charade, after all, and Boston, which is not very far from Walden Pond, was a center of international shipping in the middle of the 19th century.
The more interesting question is what Thoreau would have thought of my lunch, a salad that manages to transcend all boundaries of season and geography in a single bowl. I suspect he would not have approved. The author of Walden was quite vocal in his rejection of the culture of commerce, and probably they would have lost him at the trademark emblem. Thoreau was also convinced of the value of paying close attention to the different qualities of each passing day, and week, and season. But if every product of every region of the world is available everywhere, in every season, how is anything going to seem special enough to merit notice?
I put down my fork to consider what it would mean to take Walden as my culinary guide. The fact is, I don't really want to eat like Thoreau, dining on beans, fish, and the occasional woodchuck, and I doubt many other people want to, either. A limited diet is hardly a model for world nutrition. Complete self-sufficiency, apart from being impossible, is very bad for community spirit.
Perhaps what we should do instead is take the time to savor our food and demand that it be fresh and reasonably wholesome. I chose this salad, after all, over the more locally sourced hot dog available in the joint next door, and also over the huge and highly caloric artisanal cookies, each a meal in itself, that beckoned from the window of the bakery on the other side. At the time (15 minutes ago), it seemed like a wise decision. Was I so very wrong?
I need to give this some thought. And to do that, I should start by putting away my book. Thoreau will still be hoeing his bean field whenever I get back to him. But if we are ever to honor our food with the passionate awareness Thoreau inspires, we really shouldn't read while we eat.
