Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Health Law Blogs -> Food Safety News

Health Law

: Food Safety News

New Wash Method Launched for Bagged Greens

By Dan Flynn and Suzanna Schreck

The New York Times is reporting today that the nation's largest producer of bagged salads, Fresh Express, has switched from washing leafy greens with chlorine, the industry standard, to rinsing its produce with a blend of lactic and peracetic acids diluted in water.
As reported by Willliam Neuman, the story says the company, owned by Chiquita Brands International, calls its new wash solution FreshRinse and plans to market it to other producers.  Neuman states that the mild organic acids are already approved for use and common in food processing.
The move, the Times notes, comes on the heels of three recalls of Fresh Express packaged salad greens this year.  Random samples tested positive for Salmonella, E. coli and Listeria. 
Fresh Express told the Times its new cleaning solution can kill bacteria suspended in wash water 750 times more effectively than chlorine and that it is at least nine times as effective as chlorine in eliminating any bacteria contaminating the surface of leafy greens.
Packaged greens provide a quick, convenient way to make salads, which fosters more nutritious eating, but the safety of produce has been suspect, especially since an E. coli outbreak four years ago was linked to spinach.
Leafy greens have been responsible for at least 363 foodborne illness outbreaks in more than 13,500 reported cases since 1990, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  The produce industry has been searching for an effective wash step that will help restore consumer confidence. 

Full post as published by Food Safety News on October 15, 2010 (boomark / email).