Pre Packed salads in bags

[mazza]

Hey all,

I read in the Daily Mail yesterday that there is concern over the level of chlorine contained in 'ready washed, ready to eat' salads that you can buy.

It says that the salads are immersed in a solution of chlorine that is 25 times stronger than in a typical swimming pool!

Swimming pools have 2mg chlorine per litre, public water supply has 0.4mg chlorine per litre but the salads are washed in solutions containing 50 - 100 mg chlorine per litre!

The producers use the chemical to kill bacteria, thus keeping the product 'fresh' for longer.

This chemical and its by products (eg chloramines) are linked with various cancers and miscarriage as well as being harmful to unborn babies.

The pre-packed salad market is worth £200 million per year in this country - so plenty of people regularly buy them!

I have bought these salads - not very often, admittedly - and I felt that they were needing a little rinse through before eating even though they say 'ready to eat' ...so I have always rinsed them again before using them. But they still don't taste too good, so I do tend to stick to 'freshly made from scratch at home' salad :) .

(It says in this article that the chlorine strips the taste of the lettuce away which I can see could be true.)

The supermarkets don't deny the use of the chlorinated disinfectant solution and say that the residue left on the salad is less than of normal tap water. They therefore state that pre-packaged salad poses no health risk.

So, just a little tip for anyone who uses them... We are all encouraged to eat our '5 a-day' and this type of product would be a natural choice to help attain this target. Just give it an extra wash before eating as it will help to remove some of the chlorine residue and actually makes the salad taste better !

Happy healthy eating :eat: :eatin: !

[Mr Ribbit]

Oh Mazza, :o

Thanks for posting this, we eat these 'pre-washed' salads fairly regularly and don't wash them. Not anymore though, not after reading that!

What a bloomin' cheek the food industry has. :sad: Whoever came up with this product should be force fed these salads everyday for a few years. That'll teach 'em. :devil:

mr ribbit B)

[Eeyore]

Thanks for the info Mazza, no more of these salads for me ;)

[Annabel]

:o Yuk! I tell you its like the food industry is out to poison us all, what with the chlorine, the fat levels and this morning, we are being told to look at the salt level of the food we buy!!!! :badmood:

I feel like getting my own allotment and growing my own, I really do! :rant: :angry:

[mazza]

Thinking about it, this must apply to EVERYTHING that is labelled as ''washed and ready to use/eat''.

Spinach, baby potatoes, fruit salads...

I also saw on Countryfile yesterday that there was perfectly lovely fruit and veg being rejected by the supermarkets as they are the wrong shape :blink:.

E.g. Green beans which looked fabulous - but they were rejected for being too long!!! So the growers took them to Covent Garden to sell - and they were snapped up by good restaurants.

I love my supermarket for convenience etc, but at what cost to our health and our palates is all this?

I do think that something has to change - the more stories we hear like this, the more awareness there will be about the methods used in food production as I think we, as consumers, know very little about the whole industry. :unsure:

[Mr Ribbit]

Originally posted by mazza@13th September 2004 - 6:35 PM
I love my supermarket for convenience etc, but at what cost to our health and our palates is all this?

I do think that something has to change - the more stories we hear like this, the more awareness there will be about the methods used in food production as I think we, as consumers, know very little about the whole industry. :unsure:
70481

I couldn't agree more Mazza. I'm so shocked by this news, :o . I'm still hsaking my head just thinking about it. :unsure:

Thanks again for bringing it to everyone's attention. :)

mr ribbit

[Eskander]

Oh dear,

The Daily Mail says that there are harmful residues on these products.

The supremarkets say "The supermarkets don't deny the use of the chlorinated disinfectant solution and say that the residue left on the salad is less than of normal tap water. They therefore state that pre-packaged salad poses no health risk"

Both could be true. Now I have to decide which of the Daily Mail and Tescos is the most reliable source of truth, honesty and virtue. :sad: :o :unsure:

[boydenbabe]

I work in school meals, and whilst on a course we were told to wash salad in Milton (the stuff you wash baby equipment in). The instructor said that we didn't have to rinse it off - I suppose this is what the supermarkets are using? Actually in our school we wash it the old fashioned way - with water!!