Can Scientists Wash Away Tainted Salad Greens?
Bags of salad mix containing fresh spinach are seen on the shelf at United Market, September 15, 2006, in San Rafael, California. Photo: Getty Images.
The race to develop a perfect produce wash that will remove dangerous contaminants from fruits and vegetables among the fresh produce industry and their cadre of food-safety scientists is on.
Until now, the go-to solution has been chlorine-treated water, but according to the Los Angeles Times, food-safety teams are now venturing beyond the old triple-wash for those bagged leafy-greens. Instead, companies like Taylor Fresh Foods are using an additive known as T-128, or SmartWash, throughout their produce wash-lines in the hopes of avoiding deadly outbreaks of tainted produce, like last fall’s Jensen Farms listeria-tainted cantaloupe incident, or the deadly 2006 E. coli outbreak linked to fresh spinach.
A stumbling block for the industry? Salad bagging.
Because thousands of pounds of leafy greens are washed and then bagged together, shared wash-water has meant that even a few tainted leaves could have serious consequences for the entire lot.
These new "super washes" could go a long way towards solving the problem, but it's still not clear exactly what's in them—or whether they're even that effective.
New Leaf Food Safety Solutions, the food safety subsidiary of Taylor Fresh Foods, declined to tell us what specific ingredients are used in their SmartWash product, but spokesperson Sarah Mohsin did say it’s used on leafy greens, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, green onions, cabbage and peppers across Taylor Farm operations in the U.S. and in Mexico.
“It would be giving away our [trade] secrets, but I can say it’s made of GRAS ingredients,” says Mohsin.
GRAS, by the way, is fancy for “Generally Recognized As Safe,” according to the FDA.
Taylor Fresh Foods isn’t alone in trying to bump up the effectiveness of their salad wash.
Fresh Express (owned by Chiquita Brands) has come out with their own Fresh Rinse solution, which they bill as “a breakthrough eco-friendly wash that cleans salads better than traditional chlorine wash.”
And T-128 isn’t the only weapon the industry is exploring.
“Other researchers are looking at chlorine alternatives, gaseous washes, ultrasound, radiation, even cold plasma—any means to strip that last germ from a leaf of baby spinach or endive or the popular spring mix,” writes Deborah Schoch.
Will Daniels, senior vice president for food safety at organic-giant Earthbound Farm, tells TakePart that they’ve been looking outside the fresh-cut industry for a solution that goes beyond a traditional wash. Plus, he says, the T-128 is not organically approved, and doesn’t fit with the company’s environmental standards.
“We’re looking primarily at citrus-based sanitizers,” says Daniels. But the company is also testing the use of high-powered ultrasound as a way to sanitize produce. Early results of both methods are favorable, says Daniels. For now, Earthbound Farms is still using chlorine-based wash systems and frequent testing.
Trevor Suslow, extension research specialist at University of California, Davis’ Center for Produce Safety, says not all solutions are living up to the hype of a perfect wash system.
“I don’t want to use the term snake-oil, so let’s say some are safe, but not effective,” says Suslow.
If you’re wondering whether or not these new super washes are rinsed off before the produce is bagged and sitting on your grocer’s refrigerated shelf, that depends on the processor, according to Suslow.
“You can wash it again if it makes you feel better, but we don’t find that there’s any significant advantage in doing so,” he says. “My take? T-128 is a significant advancement for companies that will continue to use chlorine. SmartWash doesn’t kill anything on its own, but it does make the chlorine work better.”
Robert Gravani, professor of food science in the Department of Food Science at Cornell University, says using a combination of mitigation strategies, starting with good agricultural practices to better wash systems, is key to keeping fruits and vegetables safe for consumption.
“We want people to eat more produce because it’s healthy. But when there’s an outbreak, people get nervous and stop eating certain types of produce,” says Gravani. “Is there any perfect method right now? No. But the science is certainly catching up.”
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