Pre-washed salads in the supermarket produce section may not be as clean as consumers would like to think, according to a recent investigation.
A Consumers Union analysis found high levels of bacteria commonly linked to poor sanitation in many of the sampled packaged salads. The bacteria were not a heath risk to the public, according to reports.
The study evaluated 208 packaged salads, from 16 brands, purchased last summer in Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York.
The salads were in either bags or plastic clamshell containers. Research showed 39 percent of the samples contained more than 10,000 "most probable number" per gram, which is a measure of total coliforms (bacteria associated with fecal contamination). In addition, 23 percent had more than 10,000 colony forming units per gram of the bacterium enterococcus, according to reports.
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