the salad that comes ready made in a resealable bag, do u have to wash it before serving it?

Answer 1

Hey Now...

They say No...
I wash it anyway...
It cant hurt!

Smiles

Answer 2

A cleaning process has already taken place however people handle the food after the cleaning process. So the answer is really yes, just to be sure. Wash in cool water. Then rinse with some cold water. The cold water will crisp the veggys a little. Then put in a small cloth bag and shake the salad. This gets all the water off of the veggys. Then place in the refrigerator for about 2 hours. Results is a very fresh crispy salad. Try it, you'll enjoy it.

Answer 3

I had always thought they were safe, until recently when I read about a whole mess of those prepackaged salad bags being recalled because they were giving people food poisoning. Now I always wash the contents and put them through the old salad spinner before using them, or (better yet), buy whole heads of lettuce and wash that as well.

Twenty outbreaks of foodborne illness caused by Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria have been linked to prepackaged salads since 1995, causing over 500 cases of food poisoning people and three deaths. At the link I've left below a lawyer explains why these bagged salads can grow these bacteria so easily. He also describes the possible horrible effects.

Read the link, make your salads fresh if you can, and wash them in any case. Better safe than sorry!

Answer 4

As a retired USDA Food Safety Inspector I can tell you that just because something is packaged dosen't make it clean or safe. You should always act as if the Salad in the bag "missed" the wash. In other words, just throw it in a colandar and rinse it, then let it strain out the water.

Not so hard and can save you allot of health trouble. After all, just some fecal matter on Spinach this summer killed at least 3 children under what, 10? So, this can lead to serious health matters.

Answer 5

Absolutely wash ready made salads that come in bags. It is a good habit to take the veggies out of the bag, wash them, dry them with a lettuce dryer (the baskets with the push button is my favorite), and after use if you have left overs put them in a storage bag with a paper towel.

Some people use the veggie wash sprays, but I just wash a good three times with cold water. If the salad has a particular smell to it when taking the veggies out of the bag, I add a small capful of distilled vinegar to a bath of water for the first washing and then rinse a couple to times after.

Happy eating.

Answer 6

Yes, All pre-washed bagged salad mixes and spinach should be washed just like any other lettuce before eating. Never use any detergent or bleach solutions to wash with as fruit and vegetables can absorb these solutions and they’re not meant for human consumption. You can use special produce sprays to wash, but water alone will also do the trick. This is advice directly from the Food Network website.

Answer 7

i use salad that comes in a resealable bag and now i never wash it and serve it with my own homemade salad dressing and nobody ever got sick. if you wash that salad it will go bad faster and will not stay fresh in the bag i found out, because of the moisture from the water in the bag. i have never found any dirt in the salad that comes in a resealable bag. but i do break it up into smaller pieces before i serve it, it looks better and it is easier to pick up with your fork.

Answer 8

The following press release might be helpful to you:

"Personal Chef Tips for Proper Produce Care

- Buy local fruits and vegetables when possible; shop at farm stands and farmers markets.
- At home, promptly refrigerate perishable produce.
- Wash everything – apples, carrots, melons, greens, etc. - before preparing and serving. Use a scrub brush on firm fruits and vegetables, rinse well.
- Use fresh water from the tap; cool water will help keep greens crisp.
- Remove and discard outer leaves of leafy vegetables.
***** Wash all bagged salad greens. Even if the bag is labeled "pre-washed" it doesn't mean it's clean.
- An item labeled "organic" doesn't mean is it free from bacterial contamination. Again, wash everything.
- Using a produce wash – commercial or homemade – can help remove wax, soil and agricultural chemicals from your fruits and vegetables.
- Cut produce on a clean cutting board with a clean knife.
- Clean and sanitize the refrigerator produce drawer regularly"

Answer 9

Technically you don't, and I have to admit that I usually don't. One other consideration besides the obvious in this though is that they normally add sulfites to the water they use to rinse the salad. This is illegal to do on vegetables that are expected to be served "raw" so they "supposedly" rinse it with a bit of fresh water near the end of the processing to get most of the sulfites off. If you have any trouble with sulfites or wish to avoid them then by all means wash prepacked veggies. This is not done on the items that are not put in bags already and washed, but is done on the "prepackaged" salads. None of this is stated on the bags, and is just another way the FDA is a puppet of our chemical lobby. :-) Also with the ecoli scare recently not a bad idea, especially if spinach and some of the other greens are involved.

Answer 10

No because it's already washed and FDA approved.
However, I've watched news stories that have warned against not washing the pre-washed veggies/fruits/etc. Personally, I always wash just because of the packing, shipping, and storing. Imagine how many people walk by touching that salad (depends on the bag). You might want to wash to get a better flavor too (it also depends on the water quality of what the factory used - you do know that different states/counties have purified and soil water.)
If you're worried about ecoli, just wash them with bleach or boil for 15 minutes. But you don't have to worry about that (you can sue, besides, the stuff is safe enough).

Answer 11

I recently received an e-mail that showed a picture of a "prepacked salad" and through the plastic on the bag you could plainly see that there was a frog in the salad. What happened was a frog hopped into the bag of salad right before the machine had sealed it. It made it's way to the store and from there, into somebody's cart. When they got it home is when they had finally noticed that there was a frog in the bag of salad. So I think it's safe to say YES! WASH THE BAGGED SALAD AS WELL AS THE UN-BAGGED!