PARALLEL UNIVERSE: Packaged Salads Can Be Hazardous to Your Health
By David M. KinchenEditor, Huntington News Network
Hinton, WV (HNN) – A friend of mine in Texas sent me material about the hazards of packaged salads – the convenient kind you’ll find in every supermarket produce section. I’m a big fan of these products, adding my own ingredients and making a healthy meal.
The product featured in the photograph accompanying this column has been prepared and is my refrigerator as I write. I’m careful to wash the salad greens very carefully, along with other fresh veggies and/or fruit that I add.
Now comes the information that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a nationwide health alert on Dole Pre-Packaged Salads. Last fall, Dole recalled certain varieties of packaged salads – not including the product pictured and consumed by yours truly.
The NBC investigative program “Dateline” recently featured a segment on popular salad mixes being sold in plastic bags in supermarkets. The site www.snopes.com which scopes out the truthiness of Urban Legends, calls the salad situation “True.” The “Datelate” feature highlighted the entire production process and disclosed that E-coli had been showing up in the bagged salad.
Investigators are still trying to determine how the salad mix gets contaminated with E-coli, but serious illness and even deaths have been occurring in many states. One woman featured spoke about her child who had almost died after eating salad prepared from the mix and was ill for a long time after.
The public is warned not to buy any salad mix until the cause of the contamination has been determined. That’s a little extreme in my view; carefully wash the packaged materials in very hot water and you should be fine.
For further information, check the MSNBC link below and click on "Launch" below the salad:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12536902/
Snopes: http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/salad.asp
http://www.natural-holistic-health.com/general/fda-issues-nationwide-health-alert-on-dole-pre-packaged-salads/