5 defensive tactics to safely store and consume salads and vegetables
If you've read the news about a healthy diet, you certainly haven't missed reports of suspected bacteria found in commonly sold vegetables and salads. By following the simple steps outlined in this article, you will keep your vegetables safe to eat.
Various scary headings appeared: In California, a person died and the culprit was the E. coli bacterium on Roman salad. It happened earlier. Consumers in the United States and other countries regularly face food fears. Three people died in 2006 while consuming E. coli on spaghetti with fresh spinach. In 2011, more than a dozen people died from eating yellow melon, which was grown on a farm in Colorado and infested with a deadly bacterium. In 2017, an epidemic of norovirus appeared, which took care of the closure of Chipotle's fast food chain.
According to some sources, nearly 10 million cases of foodborne illness occur annually in the United States. Of these, 51 percent are from contaminated plants and 23 percent are from salads alone. When compared to meat, whether beef, venison, pork or poultry, the incidence of disease was 22 percent and dairy products were responsible for 17 percent of the disease.
Bacteria: Good and bad
Bacteria are as much a part of life on our planet as oxygen. There are good bacteria, such as bacteria that digest food in our gut, and there are also bad bacteria of the above kind. The goal may not be to remove bacteria, some bad bacteria are needed in our body and therefore we should have the "bad" under control and we should support the good ones.
A recent study in Sweden found that washing fresh vegetables cannot eliminate all bacteria, but can significantly reduce them. The final solution is that producers and distributors of "green crops" use industrial methods that are not available for domestic kitchens. Food companies are trying to irradiate production, bombard it with ultrasonic waves and wash it with chlorine and other chemicals. These methods can reduce the number of bacteria, but they are not very effective. Consumers have not adopted such methods. And in many cases, bacteria usually accumulate by the time they enter the food chain.
5 steps to safe vegetables
Studies have offered several ways to make your vegetables a little safer, if not completely safe.
1. SWITCH ON THE WATER FROM FUEL TO FULL GAS
Although not valid for E. coli, many other bacteria are attached to the leaf surface. By using high-pressure washing, you can eliminate a significant amount of bacteria.
2. THE MORE YOU WASH THE VEGETABLES, THE CLEANER THE
While this is not a great technique when it comes to water consumption, your vegetables will be cleaner the more times you wash them. For example, researchers washed vegetables five times in a row. Again, this technique will not work for E. coli.
3. WASH THE VEGETABLES TIGHT BEFORE YOU EAT
Washing vegetables under high pressure damages the leaf structure, allowing bacteria to get under the surface. It is very difficult to remove bacteria from inside the lettuce leaf. If you want to wash the whole salad at once, then each leaf will need to be peeled off, washed and stored in the refrigerator for later use.
4. DO NOT BUY PRE-CUT VEGETABLES.
By slicing, the bacteria can get deep into the leaf, and no matter how much water you use, you will not get these bacteria from there. In addition, these sliced edges then open access to new bacteria.
5. DO NOT CLEAN THE VEGETABLES IN A WATER BATH.
When you fill a sink with the hope that you will buy your salad in it to remove all the impurities from it, or perhaps hope that you will rid it of bacteria, it really isn't. It does not work.
Before vegetables come into your sink, here are a few more steps you can use to control bacteria:
Buy the freshest products available, keep them separate from the meat and leave them in the refrigerator.
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