Do you guys remember the spinach outbreak we had recently? I do, and in my quest to eat healthier I want to make sure that what I eat is in fact truly good for me. This is particularly important since food is imported from different countries. The other day I bought some garlic and when I got home I saw that it was produced in China. There was another brand made in the U.S. that was slightly more expensive, but I went for the cheaper brand. I now look for foods in general produced in the U.S. even if they are more expensive. My reason for buying American produce is explained in the research article below by Katy Gagnon.
Take a moment to read it and I think it will convince you as well of the need to monitor where your food is purchased. Once you get your salad ingredients home it explains additional steps you can take to insure its safety. I always wondered why older cooks would put vinegar in their greens. I thought the greens were bitter enough, why add vinegar? Now I know the preventive benefits of adding it.
Stay Blessed!
Joyce
Eating a salad a day may help you live longer -- just make sure it's safe
By: Katy Gagnon
Devouring more vegetables will help you live longer, according to new research, unless of course they're teeming with deadly bacteria. Since 1995, there have been 19 E. coli outbreaks linked to a variety of leafy greens, including the outbreak that sickened 200 bagged spinach buyers earlier this year. The reason? "As a head of lettuce grows, it brings in soil with each layer of leaves," says Philip Tierno, Ph.D., a microbiologist at New York University and author of The Secret Life of Germs. If the soil is tainted with bacteria from manure-contaminated water -- as it was in the case of the recent outbreak -- then bacteria becomes nestled deeper and deeper inside the developing plant.
Once befouled, it's nearly impossible to remove pathogens from the leaves thanks to a sticky "biofilm" that coats them, says Scott Martin, Ph.D., a food science and nutrition professor at the University of Illinois. That film is probably the reason why E. coli survived the triple washing that most spinach is subjected to at processing plants. And while boiling kills E. Coli, it would also reduce your salad to mush. Instead, rid your greens of tagalong critters with this plan of attack.
FOOD SAFETY TIPS:
Check the date.
You don't have to frequent the local farmer's market to avoid contaminated produce, just pick produce with the freshest "Best Buy" date (health officials assure all bagged spinach with dates after October 1, 2006 are safe). The fresher the produce the least likely it is that it experienced temperature abuse, which could lead to bacteria growth, Martin says.
Make an acid wash.
Just running them under water doesn't work, you need to go after the "nooks and crannies," Tierno says. Target them with this approach:
1. Fill a large pot with cold water and add a tablespoon of white vinegar or a vitamin-C tablet. The acidity from either will help break up debris. Then add the greens.
2. Stir the water with your hand or spoon, and let the dirt settle on the bottom. If the water still looks dirty, repeat the whole process again with a new pot of water.
3. Scoop the greens out of the water with a strainer. Resist the urge to pour the entire pot into a strainer, which mixes the dirt back in with the greens.
4. Rinse each individual leaf under running water and pat dry.
Scrub before you peel.
Use a vegetable brush to remove dirt on hard produce before you peel. Shaving a carrot or potato without washing it will transfer any dirt from the outside of the vegetable into the edible portion.
Douse everything with vinaigrette.
Adding a vinegary salad dressing to your greens could reduce the amount of pathogens, says Larry Beuchat, Ph.D., food science professor at the University of Georgia. Any dressing will work, but those high in vinegar, such as Italian or Balsamic vinaigrette, are the most effective because their high acid content kills germs, Beuchat says.
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