Is lettuce still safe?

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  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
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    grinning_chick wrote: »
    The "disinfectant" used the clean food service/packaged processed fresh fruit and veg is a 50-200 ppm by chem strip potable water diluted out chlorine bleach soak for a specified amount of time, followed by a final rinse in potable water.

    So unless the Solbac product in question is (1) available in a gallon jug as a liquid vs. the spray cans label Solbac manufactured by CCPI I see online and, (2), nothing more than chlorine bleach with dilution and rinse instructions, it is not likely going to be a FF&V "disinfectant". I can't readily find the MSDS for Solbac, but its marketing would leave a reasonable person to conclude it is equivalent to Lysol. Yeah, no, you don't use Lysol on food.

    As you can see by my previous posts, it's neither a spray nor chlorine bleach. It's drops and the ingredient label is posted above.

    Btw, the correct dilution of chlorine bleach is an approved sanitizer by most US health departments. The more typical commercially used one is quaternary sanitizer. Neither are as environmentally preferable as citrus derivatives. However both chlorine bleach and quaternary sanitizers in the appropriate dilutions are widely used both in healthcare and foodservice in the US.
  • LyndaBSS
    LyndaBSS Posts: 6,964 Member
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    I eat romaine and other lettuces daily and I’m not dead yet. At least, I don’t think I am. ☠️
  • RelCanonical
    RelCanonical Posts: 3,882 Member
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    LyndaBSS wrote: »
    I eat romaine and other lettuces daily and I’m not dead yet. At least, I don’t think I am. ☠️

    Perhaps contaminated lettuce just makes you dead on the inside. Or that could be the 9-5. Same dif.
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
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    apullum wrote: »
    LivingtheLeanDream wrote: »
    Just wash it (salt and water combo) that'll sort it.

    I don’t know whether you meant this seriously or not, but no, washing lettuce with salt water won’t protect you against E. coli O157:H7. There is no reliable way to remove or kill enough of this bacteria to make leafy greens safe to eat if they are contaminated.

    The specific place where contaminated romaine was grown is Salinas, California. If your romaine isn’t from there, you’re safe. Romaine from the area should have been pulled from your grocery store shelves already, but you can also check the packaging to see where it was grown.

    This - any sort of disinfectant isn’t a good bet to kill e.coli in particular. Some bacteria require large numbers to be infectious. E.coli only requires approximately 9 individual bacteria to cause disease. That means if there are 9 billion bacteria and your product kills 99.9% of them, it didn’t help you.
  • Katmary71
    Katmary71 Posts: 6,623 Member
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    I'd just bought 2 6 packs of Romaine from Costco from Salinas and ate two heads. I called administrators and was told it was safe but to return if nervous. I eat most of a head of Romaine a day and baby spring greens for my other salad. Red leaf and green leaf lettuce are similar if you want to avoid Romaine. There's butter lettuce, spinach, kale, and lots of other options. I just bought Romaine today as red leaf doesn't look good at the store and I'm in CA, guess I'm living dangerously!
  • Diatonic12
    Diatonic12 Posts: 32,344 Member
    edited December 2019
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    Why washing won't work

    "Although washing produce can reduce some contamination, it doesn't kill bacteria, so unfortunately won't eliminate the risk. Once E. coli bacteria make their way onto lettuce, they are able to fill tiny cracks and crevices all over a leaf. And even a small number of E. coli bacteria are enough to get people sick.

    In a recent study, researchers tried washing E. coli off of romaine lettuce and other leafy greens. They found that a powerful wash was able to remove some bacteria from lettuce, but it didn't significantly reduce the quantities of E. coli — and enough remained to make people sick."

    "Leafy greens like romaine and spinach are the most common sources of foodborne illness infections, according to an analysis by the CDC. There are many opportunities for bacteria to spread to these products and they're usually eaten raw, which means bacteria aren't killed by cooking."

    https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/2019/o157h7-11-19/index.html

    https://www.businessinsider.com/is-it-safe-to-eat-romaine-lettuce-2018-4

    If the irrigation water is contaminated you can't wash it out or off the plant. It travels through the roots to the leaves.
  • Diatonic12
    Diatonic12 Posts: 32,344 Member
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    https://extension.colostate.edu/topic-areas/nutrition-food-safety-health/preventing-e-coli-from-garden-to-plate-9-369/

    "Consequences of E. coli O157:H7 can affect all age groups. The very young and very old are most vulnerable to long-term complications.

    When E. coli O157:H7 attaches to the gut wall of infected people, it sets up an infection known as hemorrhagic colitis (HC). Initial symptoms generally occur within one to two days of eating the contaminated food, although periods up to three to five days have been reported. "
  • Diatonic12
    Diatonic12 Posts: 32,344 Member
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    Washing Your Greens Won't Protect Against E. Coli

    https://www.consumerreports.org/e-coli/washing-greens-protect-e-coli/
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,982 Member
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    Been eating egg salad lettuce wraps for the past week with no I'll effects.
  • lollie1285
    lollie1285 Posts: 239 Member
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    I just bought organic romaine from my grocery store yesterday. I’m not sick yet haha.
  • BarbaraHelen2013
    BarbaraHelen2013 Posts: 1,940 Member
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    I don’t know what Solbac is but I’m wondering if in the form intended for washing vegetables it’s the same product as Milton in the U.K.?

    Milton is what we’d use to sterilise baby bottles, also to soak cloth nappies before washing, washing baby toys etc.

    On the occasions when we’ve had issues with contaminated greens in the U.K., it’s what the NHS have recommended we use to wash leaves and vegetables. Using the 2 sink method, soak in a mild Milton solution (directions for this use are on the packaging), for 20 mins then rinse in clear water.

    From memory, Milton does have a faint chlorine smell but it’s clearly food safe if it’s used for newborns!
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
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    lollie1285 wrote: »
    I just bought organic romaine from my grocery store yesterday. I’m not sick yet haha.

    If you were able to buy lettuce yesterday, then either that lettuce is not subject to the recall or your grocery store is not complying with the recall. My money is on the first one.

    Again, the recall does not affect ALL romaine. It is only romaine grown in Salinas. If your romaine was not grown in Salinas, then it's safe. The lettuce packaging usually tells where it was grown.

    Additionally, if you did manage to get your hands on some contaminated lettuce, it would take a few days after eating it for you to get sick.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,952 Member
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    cmriverside wrote: »
    SuzySunshine99 wrote: »
    Here's a good article on the possible reasons why leafy greens, especially romaine, seem to be more of a problem in recent years. It has a lot to do with contaminated water making its way into the fields. I live dangerously, so I still eat it:

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/why-romaine-lettuce-keeps-getting-recalled-for-e-coli-contamination/2019/11/26/f20e7592-0fc4-11ea-b0fc-62cc38411ebb_story.html

    Washington Post is behind a pay wall.

    You can get at least one free article per month from the Post and that should be per browser. I've stopped taking advantage of this because they won't let me view with my advertisement blocker on and the moving ads hurt my brain.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,015 Member
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    kshama2001 wrote: »
    cmriverside wrote: »
    SuzySunshine99 wrote: »
    Here's a good article on the possible reasons why leafy greens, especially romaine, seem to be more of a problem in recent years. It has a lot to do with contaminated water making its way into the fields. I live dangerously, so I still eat it:

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/why-romaine-lettuce-keeps-getting-recalled-for-e-coli-contamination/2019/11/26/f20e7592-0fc4-11ea-b0fc-62cc38411ebb_story.html

    Washington Post is behind a pay wall.

    You can get at least one free article per month from the Post and that should be per browser. I've stopped taking advantage of this because they won't let me view with my advertisement blocker on and the moving ads hurt my brain.

    Yeah, no interest in the Post, to be honest. Thanks, though. And yeah, I don't view any sites with ads either.

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