You wash bagged lettuce … again
You need a salad first course for your holiday feast, so you pick up a ready-to-serve bag of greens at the market. The package says they’re twice washed—but it can’t hurt to give them one more wash, right?
Actually it can, says Chapman. “A national microbiological safety panel looked at those bags and they concluded that even if you wash them again, you’re unlikely to remove any type of pathogens that are still hanging on.”
By touching the lettuce with your hands and tossing it in a colander, however, you do run the risk of introducing new pathogens, he adds, especially if you’ve recently been handling raw meat, as well. “The best thing you can do is open the bag and dump it right in a salad bowl, ready to eat.”