CR says Ready to Eat greens aren't always ready to eat

by Nicole Weston, Posted Oct 6th 2006 @ 12:05PM

Bagged greens usually state that they are pre-washed and ready to eat on their labels, but that doesn't mean that they are edible. In their most recent issue, Consumer Reports tested several types of bagged salad mixes for the "yuck factor," the phrase that they used to describe the percentage of the "ready to eat" greens that were wilted or otherwise inedible. It turned out that there was a lot of yucky stuff. Out of the 62 bags that they meticulously tested, inedible greens ranged from .5% to 83% of the salads and "the vast majority had 'off' odors, smelling like rotten vegetables, sauerkraut or chlorine... [or] imitation crab meat." Needless to say, they recommended buying greens and making your own salad mixes, or at least washing the bagged greens before eating them. Besides, as they rightly point out, it is less expensive to chop up your own lettuce - especially if you're going to have to throw away a portion of the bagged stuff that isn't as fresh as it should be.

Filed Under: Magazines, Did you know?, Ingredients
Tags: bag, bagged, consumer reports, ConsumerReports, cr, did you know, green, greens, lettuce, mix, salad, salads, taste test, test, vegetables, yuck

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

10-06-2006 @12:20PM Jackie K said... I also think that these bagged greens are a rip-off! I bought them for a bit when they first came out, but the quality of the lettuce seemed poor. I've gone back to my salad spinner, and just making my own salad mixes. Much tastier, fresher and less expensive.
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10-06-2006 @12:44PM Joanne W. said... What is the purpose of and what does a salad spinner do?
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10-06-2006 @1:00PM MJ said... Me no eat no bagged nothing!! the salad spinner, spins the water off the greens so they arent soggy for the answer of number#2. nice crisp greens you will have.Spin spin spin!

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10-06-2006 @1:56PM Amy Z said... I do buy bagged salads. I live alone and if I buy a head of lettuce (any kind) it always goes bad before I get through it all. Same with buying whole bunches of carrots or radiches and what not. I do prefer the homemade, and I do eat a lot of vegetables, and cook with lots of veggetables, so I'm usually surprised when they go bad, but the salad veggies do consistently go bad. What costs more in the long run - throwing out half a head of lettuce and carrots and radiches every week (or every other week, depending on vegetable) or buying the bagged stuff? I didn't really do an analysis or anything, but I settled on the bagged. (Yes, I have tried packaging and storing differently, and adjusting my refrigerator temp, and just about anything else you can think of).
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10-09-2006 @10:24PM Miss Tenacity said... I loved the boxed 1lb organic spring mix I get from Costco. About $3.50 - half as much as FoodwHole and places like that. I am lazy so I hate to wash, spin and dry my salads.

Plus, I've eaten lots of street food in foreign travels so the typical bugs just don't affect me anymore.
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10-06-2006 @4:17PM Pearl said... If you find you're throwing out too many fresh vegetables, simply buy the amount you need. Almost any produce section manager will cut a lettuce in half for you. Also, don't let the store dictate that you must buy already bagged items such as carrots. Buy as many of the loose ones as you want -- even if that's just one or two. Same with radishes or cherries or whatever. Buy from the loose bin -- that also ensures you get only the best specimans. I often find with fruit especially, that a lot of the fruit in a pre-bagged item is either not ripe or already too ripe. If radishes are only presented as a fixed item, that is XX cents a bunch, find the produce manager and ask how you can buy just as few as you want. Always ask. If you don't, you're at their mercy. If you do, you have at least a 50% chance of taking control of your own choices -- and money!
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10-06-2006 @5:20PM Amy Z said... I never thought of breaking apart carrot or radish bunches, but you do bring up a good point on the price. If they won't change it, what's the point. I'll have to ask about that. I have no problem breaking apart bunches of bananas, so it's not like I'm a shy shopper or anything. However, I have never seen any grocery store cut a head of lettuce in half. Even at the higher end stores. And that's what really goes bad.

I have adjusted how I shop, well, more aptly, how I cook. If I have a desire for carrots (or whatever), I cook a lot at once. I make the salad (or whatever I needed it for) then maybe a soup or a crock pot roast, etc. I make foods with it that freeze and reheat well. I just don't want to be doing that every week. So, again, I usually stick with the bagged salads. I am very picky with them though. I really inspect them before I choose a bag to buy.

I didn't comment on fruit, but I always buy that loose. I have no problem with fruit. Just salad veggies. And fresh herbs. I love them, but never seem to be able to use them all before they go bad. But that's not solved by the bagged salads. ;-)
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10-06-2006 @8:06PM frodo said... I found a small caterpillar in my bagged salad once. He was all hibernating from the cold. I let him live outside and went on eating my salad.
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10-06-2006 @10:38PM Bob Pedersen said... Not only do I live alone, and thus buy the bags for reasons similar to Amy Z., but I am a lazy so-and-so, kitchenwise. No matter how many times I buy a bunch of veggies for salad production, it just doesn't happen. Fortunately for me, absolute peak freshness is, er, well, less of an issue for me that it is for many people. (Oddly enough, the barrier for me seems to be the washing rather than the chopping. My fear, on seeing this post, was that I would read that the greens weren't *clean.* Not so, or at least not as reported here. *whew*
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10-07-2006 @9:46AM Steve said... These discussions always strike me as very odd.

I live in a capital city in western Europe. If I want to buy vegetables I buy them from a farmer/greengrocer who grows most of the stuff himself, right at the edge of the city or I go to one of the many markets, one of which has hundreds of vendors. Not only is there much more variety and choice, the food is also of much better quality and cheaper than at any American supermarket.

And I would never, ever buy vegetables (not even spinach) of unkown origin that have been washed (read: are moist) and are in a sealed bag for days.
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