Once your stomach settles, let me know when you’re ready for me to tell you why I haven’t accepted shredded lettuce on any dish/meal served to me at public food service establishments in the past 10 years.
Lettuce only lasts a certain number of days before it starts to wilt and lose its freshness. In its leaf form, that wilting and lack of freshness is quite visible, even to the point that it gets slimy.
Years ago, food service establishments used to order heads of lettuce that were used as needed in a section of the kitchens known as Salad Prep, at closing time, the remainder was kept in cold storage. Salad Prep was extremely work-intensive (when done correctly, that is) because it required so much care being shown to each vegetable, including washing, picking, shucking, peeling, slicing, etc. Workers also had to visibly check the produce for dirt, bugs, spoilage, deformities and gross imperfections. If any of those were found, the worker was trained to either clean or discard the item. In sandwiches, burger, tacos, burritos, etc., leaf lettuce was consumed slowly over a few day’s time, and often, the entire head of lettuce was not used, as it became spoiled, it was simply thrown away. Corporate took a look at the wasted food and wasted profits, and came up with the solution of replacing the purchase of whole heads of lettuce with purchasing shredded lettuce instead. This cut costs considerably, because Salad Prep was eliminated, which in turn cut manpower needs. Since the lettuce now arrived already shredded, however, the drawbacks are that close inspection of each piece of vegetable doesn’t take place any more, so dirt and bugs go unnoticed. Washing heads of lettuce or leaves of lettuce was time-consuming and requires lots of water, yet another costly resource. Shredded lettuce is assumed to have been inspected and washed prior to delivery, but who knows for sure whether or not it was done? It’s much more difficult to see dirt and bugs in shredded lettuce than in its leaf form, and in the shredding process, bugs can theoretically get chopped up into tiny pieces undetectable to the human eye, even if inspection did take place. Lastly, when shredded lettuce wilts and/or spoils, it’s much harder to detect, even its sliminess, so it can be used for a few more days than whole lettuce instead of a portion of it being thrown out. Corporate saves money, while you eat dirt, live bugs, dead bugs, chopped up bug parts, decayed and slimy lettuce. Think about that when going to s salad bar also.
When possible, I either ask for whole leaf lettuce on my food or no lettuce at all.
Self service salad bars are the most likely places to pick up stomach bugs and alsort of other infection that the public have when the pick and serve their own veg or salads...People sneeze,pick and blow their noses and don't was their before they serve themselves at open salad bars....As soon as and salad is cut or ripped up,it begins to loose its freshness as the cuts increase the area exposed to the air around it... In England,by kaw, all shredded prepacked salads have to be washed in diluted bleach before being bagged and or sold... The bleach kill most of all the nutrients ,so there is no real point of eating it.. AmErica also washes all of its slaughtered chicken and chicken breasts and other cuts in a bleach soloution to kill of all unwanted bacteria....In England it's just washed in water...more people die and become seriously ill from eating chicken washed in bleach....it has nothing to do with the fact that their is far more people in America either... There are very few people in England that become ill from eating chicken washed in clean water in englsnd... You guys and gals need to stop buying any food stuff washed in bleach...and any other chemicals sprayed on to give them longer shelf lives...
It doesn't bother me, as many of our foods contain insect parts, which are harmless and tasteless. I'm not a big fan of strawberries and will only eat one or two on occasion. My wife likes them, so I won't show her the pic.
This post was edited by Element 99 at May 21, 2020 9:35 PM MDT
Three quarters of the worlds population eat insects and any thing small that moves Papa....it's only the north west of the globe thst doesn't really... If you eat any meats that's minced...you as an individual will never know what you are eating....
In Englsnd ,if you eat lamb curries....most likely it's beef or any dark meat animals that's had the colour boiled out of it to make it tasteless...
I had to look it up. They're maggots. Good crop management keeps them at bay but it's possible anywhere. According to what I read, it's simply soaking the fruit that draws them out. I've personally soaked all my berries in a water/ vinegar solution for years. I do that when I bring them home because it supposedly kills the bacteria and they last longer that way. I 100% believe it. Strawberries usually go bad within a couple days when I don't do it. When I use vinegar, I get at least a week. Maybe 1.5 weeks.
Anyway, my whole point in saying all that is that I've never had anything flee my berries when I've soaked them. I do a lot of berries when they're in season. So, is it possible? Yes. Is it likely? No.
What type of vinegar do you soak them in...how much percent to water....I've never seen hugs in strawberries...and I often dice them up small ... Ive not seen a maggot in any fruit since I was small. :(
Just regular white vinegar. I keep it on hand for cleaning and laundry too. I don't measure it. I've seen people recommend anything from a 1:3 mix (1 part vinegar, 3 parts water) through a 1:8 mix. I'm sure my mix is somewhere in the middle.
We have many types of vinegar in England...Non Brewed which is a derivative of ethanoic acid....Malt vinegar. Wine vinegar,Balsamic vinegar...and Spirit vinegar.. Do you know if they all work the same way. .
Spirit vinegar = white vinegar, as above. The other varieties are not usually as acidic and you probably wouldn't want to use them anyway- a good cooking vinegar is WAY more expensive than this.
Thanks....I've never seen anything like that over here....I'm supprised it says it says Heinz as well ,plus no vinegar is sold in gallons in any of our supermaket chains....I've only seen certain types of it sold in Costco or Makros huge wholesale stores... To buy Non Brewed vinegar what we call Fish and chip shop vinegar which is not really vinegar at all....it's just a man made weak acid....we have to buy that by the gallon on line...
I wonder if those larvae are of the Fruit Fly, a tiny animal, about the size of a midge. Those are harmless themselves but you don't know what germs the flies that laid the eggs, might have been carrying.
I have never seen larvae in strawberries, but I find the fruit does not last long at all, over-ripening and often going mouldy, within days.
When I need wash fresh fruit and veg., I do so in a sieve under the cold-water tap, which also lets me inspect it for any bad bits or stray creatures.
Randy D 