Why wash salads? Is it really necessary?
Salads are a healthy meal addition to any diet but washing salads isn’t just for presentation. During a recent investigation into an outbreak of E.coli 0157 which saw deaths and 62 people requiring hospital treatment is suspect to of being attributed to salad leaves. While cases like this are rare it’s important to use the following guidelines.
- Store washed and ready to eat foods above raw, unwashed and unprepared foods.
- Wash ALL salad and fruits unless marked “Ready to eat”. If you use the same sink for both washing foods and washing dishes/pots be sure to sanatise the sink and taps and use a colander so washed items do not come into contact with the sink.
- Wash all salads, fruit and veg before preparation
- Prepare “dirty” foods (root vegetables for example) separate from ready to eat salads and vegetables using a brown chopping board for the dirties and a green chopping board for the clean.