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Original poster

OMG, did you know.....

28 replies

Jaxmum · 11/05/2004 11:36

...that ready-to-eat bagged salad has been washed in a solution of chlorine twenty times stronger than that of a swimming pool; that the processing destroys the vitamin content; that in one government study 13.5% of bagged salads were found to contain E coli bacteria? Plenty more horrofic info on supermarket food here \link{http://tinyurl.com/2bfhx\this

OP posts:
Piffleoffagus · 11/05/2004 11:37

yes I knew this never eat pre washed or bagged salad, still we all drink tap water, thats got fiar amount of chlorine it it too

NomDePlume · 11/05/2004 11:40
Sad
Beccarollover · 18/05/2004 16:32

Eek I feel virtuous with bagged salad - there goes that theory then!

eddm · 18/05/2004 16:57

Was also in Guardian report on Chemical World either last Sat or the one before...
And there I was thinking bagged salad was good for you

almost40 · 18/05/2004 17:14

I live on bagged salad and frozen vegetables! and so does my DD. Please tell me that frozen vegetables are ok.

Mo2 · 18/05/2004 17:20

Jaxmum - I note that this book has not yet been published - are you linked to the author or it's distribution by any chance??

Thomcat · 18/05/2004 17:31

Oh bum! i buy bags of rocket and baby spinach etc ALL the time. Am I going to have to buy whole tettuces from now on then? Hey I can my salad spinner back out!

serenequeen · 18/05/2004 17:36

i heard the author on midweek last week, i think it was. i didn't find myself ultra convinced by the vitamin/germ arguments. e. coli outbreaks make the news they are so rare - so don't think that stat can stand up.

however, i don't think the working practices used to produce this type of food will bear close scrutiny so there are some ethical issues i think.

Easy · 18/05/2004 17:47

As I understand it there are umpty strains of e. coli, only one or two of which are dangerous to people, so just saying there are e. coli bacteria present isn't neccessarily significant.

Beetroot · 18/05/2004 17:50

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

JJ · 18/05/2004 17:55

I have to confess I wouldn't eat salad if I had to do it myself. And chlorine, smlorine .. am sure you get worse doses of chlorine while cleaning the sink. But I'm a cynic about things like that!

Mo2, those bits are on the amazon website, too.

JJ · 18/05/2004 17:56

Ooh, beetroot, I did that (tried to grow my own salad) but got completely grossed out by the slugs. I can stand most anything but slugs....
blergh.

serenequeen · 18/05/2004 17:56

i wouldn't eat salad if i had to grow it myself, that's for sure.

Janh · 18/05/2004 18:00

They featured this in Which recently too - not sure if it was the regular one or the Health one (now deceased ) (not from eating bagged salad though.) There was an excellent quote from a bloke at one of the companies responsible which completely missed the point, I'll see if I can find it later.

I have never been keen on bagged salad, it smells funny, on the odd occasion I have used it I have washed it and washed it like Lady Macbeth.

essbee · 18/05/2004 18:00

Message withdrawn

serenequeen · 18/05/2004 18:01

nigel slater swears by it and nigella has been known to mention it with approval

serenequeen · 18/05/2004 18:01

bagged salad that is...

Beetroot · 18/05/2004 18:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Cam · 18/05/2004 18:14

When I was pregnant I used to wash any bagged salads as I was paranoid about GERMS but must admit I don't now. Usually I buy whole lettuce though as it seems fresher.

Kayleigh · 18/05/2004 18:53

oh dear, i eat bagged salads by the ....er... bags And I'm not going to stop as I'm the convenience food queen, despite doing Catering at college.

Like essbee says, it must be better than no salad at all?

muminlondon · 19/05/2004 10:08

I'm reading the new book by Felicity Lawrence called Not On the Label and have just got to the chapter about bagged salads. It's not the chlorine I'm worried about, though it destroys the e coli as well as the nutrients, it's the pesticides. When I read about endocrine-disrupting chemicals I get very nervous, as DD was born without a thyroid and needs a hormone supplement every day. I'm not going to beat myself up because I ate healthily in pregnancy, washed my salad (I think) and don't wear make up -there's no known cause, it seems to occur randomly if there's no genetic link. But still, these chemicals have been around for 50 years and we don't know the effect of it.

Original poster
Jaxmum · 20/05/2004 12:30

Sorry - been offline since starting this thread. Mo2, I have no connection with the author/publisher, I just heard her talking on Midweek and thought I'd mention it.

OP posts:
magnum · 20/05/2004 12:50

Great, following coddys advice just enjoyed a lunch of pre-bagged salad from Tesco. Felt really good about myself. Now don't

aloha · 20/05/2004 13:12

I'm sure you get more chlorine from a swim in your local pool than a year's worth of bagged salads. I'm still eating them. Life's too short IMO. Though that isn't to say I wouldn't prefer them to be a bit less chemical.

Blu · 20/05/2004 13:37

Yep, did know that, and that DS's lack of a fibula may well be down to some sort of chemical pollutant such as an endocrine disrupter, but that could have come from almost anything in modern life. I buy and wash fresh if possible, but if faced with a choice of bagged salad or a petrol-station pasty, say, would eat bagged salad every time!