More than one-third of all pre-bagged salads are contaminated with fecal bacteria

Wednesday, April 02, 2014 by: David Gutierrez, staff writer
Tags: pre-bagged salads, fecal bacteria, Salmonella

(NaturalNews) Don't trust that pre-bagged produce in the grocery store, no matter how prominently the packaging proclaims that it has been "pre-washed" or even "triple-washed."

A recent Consumer Reports study found that 39 percent of all bagged salad in samples taken from 16 different brands tested positive for bacteria that indicate the presence of fecal contamination. While most bags did not contain levels high enough to make most people sick, the very prevalence of these bacteria indicates widespread fecal contamination and a continuously present disease risk.

Indeed, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says that, for every 2,000 bags of salad, one is contaminated with Salmonella. It would take less than 40 people buying one bag per week over a year for one of the contaminated bags to be consumed.

Fecal contamination of produce originates from factory farms, either via feces-based fertilizer spread directly onto crops or via runoff from feedlots onto nearby fields. Most fecal bacteria can be eliminated by careful washing after you have brought your produce home.

Sources:

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