Dirty truth behind washed and ready to eat vegetables

We are told to wash fruit and vegetables for the sake of our health but how necessary is it really? Today ran some experiments and the results were surprising.

First, we compared washed produce with unwashed produce, then we compared "washed and ready to eat" vegetables with their fresh variations.

We found a staggering amount of bacteria on food claiming to be washed and ready to eat.

Glen Pinna from Biotech Laboratories compared a bag of ready to eat lettuce, with a fresh piece of produce. 

Our tests show loose lettuce has 470,000 microbes per gram, while the washed leaves out of a packet has 9.5 million microbes per gram.

The results for broccoli were also surprising. Straight from the shelf, it has 280,000 bacteria per gram. Out of a packet labelled washed, the amount grows to 850,000.

Pinna explained washed and ready to eat bags are actually ripe for bacteria growth.

"The conditions they're creating is really promoting the growth of bacteria," he said. "Anything that you're chopping up and putting into a bag and sealing and not holding under five degrees, those bugs are going to increase."

In fact, he advises to avoid all ready to eat products.

"I don't expect there to be pathogens there to make us sick, but you're certainly getting spoilage," he said.

So, should you wash lettuce in general?

A piece washed for just five seconds had 63,000 microbes per gram. An unwashed section of the same plant has more than six times that amount.

According to Pinna, the results indicate all lettuce and leafy vegetables need a wash before eating.

However, when it came to fruits such as apples, tomatoes, strawberries and grapes you may as well save the water. There was not much difference between washed and unwashed variations.

"Apples are apples… no need to wash them," Pinna said. "Don't waste the water."