E. coli in pre-made salads

Because my mom loves to make me nervous:

Unseen danger in bagged salads

It was Roi Dahl’s leftover lettuce that cracked the case. At the lab, scientists showed us how they were able to extract and isolate E.coli 0157 in the lettuce, then, using DNA markers, they compared it to the strain of E.coli that sickened Dahl, Amber Brister and the others. It was a perfect match.

Like a lot of Americans, we have multiple bags of pre-made salads in our refrigerator at home.

6 Comments »

1. I don’t want to make you nervous….I want to make you aware. If you don’t have a salad spinner, time to get one – washing lettuce can be fun!

   Comment by Mom — June 21, 2006 @ 23:41

2. See, now you’re scaring me in a whole new way.

   Spinning salad for fun, honestly …

   Comment by Beau — June 22, 2006 @ 0:19

3. Any fruit and vegetables could contain E.coli (157), so if you aren’t going to cook them, they should be washed thoroughly before you eat them.

   Mind you, the risk is significantly smaller than contracting it from undercooked steak.

   Medium Rare, anyone???

   Comment by Tony — June 22, 2006 @ 3:21

4. We do have a salad spinner, but it never ever ever gets washed. It sits on the counter day after day because I’ll have used it to strain pasta (I know, I know) and it just takes up too much room in the dishwasher when there’s a ton of other dishes that need to go in first.

   I’ll just poke holes in the bag with a knife and run water through it. That’ll work, right? Right? Whaaat? =p

   Comment by Jenn — June 22, 2006 @ 17:44

5. Ew. You drain pasta in it and don’t watch it? Starch-arific!

   I heart our salad spinner.

   Comment by Typo Lad — June 23, 2006 @ 5:40

6. I don’t reuse it while it’s dirty, no no! I just slack in washing it.

   Comment by Jenn — June 26, 2006 @ 11:06

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