Why can not eat ready-made lettuce in packets
'15.03.2021'
Source: Clever
The dynamics of modern life makes even the most diligent housewives save on cooking time. That is why not only semi-finished products, but also lettuce, spinach and other greens almost ready to eat are especially popular today. However, it is the salad in packets that can cause serious illness.
Scientists at the University of Leicester in the UK have conducted studies proving that it is not uncommon for salad leaves to become infected with salmonella from organic fertilizers (manure), as well as from insects and birds, even if the salad grows in open ground, writes Clever.
An associate professor at the University’s Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, Primrose Freestone, explains that they followed what happens to salmonella if the leaves of a salmonella-infected lettuce are damaged. The juice extracted from the leaves increases the ability of bacteria to form biofilms covering the entire inner surface of the package. Such a salad remains a source of salmonellosis even after thorough washing.
University graduate student Jannis Kukkidis explains that salad juice in this case becomes much more dangerous than just a leaf with salmonella attached to it. The bacterium can be washed off the leaf, and when the juice spreads out it becomes impossible. In addition, the juice of the salad promotes the growth of bacteria, even in the refrigerator.
On the subject: What you need to know, not to get poisoned salad in America
Salmonella is not the only bacterium that “lives” on the leaves of a ready-made salad. In the US, a pregnant woman almost died after eating such food. Having eaten a sandwich with green leaves in a cafe, she “got into the appendage” bacterial meningitis and sepsis. This was told by a professor at the London School of Tropical Medicine, Hugh Pennington. According to him, a ready-to-eat salad often becomes, in addition to salmonellosis, a source of cryptosporidiosis and listeriosis.
Green lettuce does not pass special sanitary control, therefore, along with it, bacteria, shops and cafes can easily enter the shops. Such a salad should be washed before use with hot water and soap, the professor is sure. He cites data from the US federal government, according to which about one million people fall ill with salmonellosis in America every year, of which 19 000 fall into the hospital and 380 die. Hugh Pennington explains that this is more than the number of diseases from any other bacteria associated with food poisoning, including E. coli.
According to the newspaper The Telegraph, in Germany, listeriosis, the germs of which contaminated lettuce, was interrupted by the life of an 22 man. In the UK, mass poisoning was caused by spinach - 300 people who had cryptosporidiosis were referred to hospitals. In the US, Listeria is the third largest source of poisoning. In 2016, Dole, the largest producer of fresh vegetables and fruits in the United States, seized the American blend salad mix in ten states because of the listeria bacteria found in it.
On the subject: Leaf Salad Guide: Which Greens Are Most Useful
Many believe that lettuce greens is a good opportunity to replenish your body with vitamins. Food Specialist at the University of North Carolina. Mary Ann Leela generally agrees with this. But, in her opinion, it is better to do this at the expense of fresh fruits and vegetables. As established by university specialists, for example, vitamins B and C in lettuce leaves are water soluble. Therefore, in the process of washing (and it is necessary to do this, as we found out, very long and carefully), most of these vitamins are simply washed out.
It also turned out that, for example, in spinach after eight days of storage in the refrigerator almost half of the folate is lost - a very important and beneficial vitamin for the body. Of course, no one at home will store so many greens, but it is not known how much she lay in the supermarket before buying.
