Bagged Lettuce and E. Coli

Last night, my family was flipping through channels and found Dateline NBC. The reporter was discussing with various health specialists and with lettuce growers several outbreaks of E. coli which seemed to be connected to bagged lettuce, of all things.

There were no definitive answers. Nonetheless, it might be wise to follow their suggestions. Wash bagged lettuce even if it says "pre-washed; ready to eat" on the packaging, and don't use it past its expiration date as E. coli tends to grow more rapidly the more decayed the food becomes. There is no need to panic and stop buying bagged lettuce, at this time, but it can't hurt to take a couple simple precautions until the cause of the outbreaks is found. (Unfortunately for me, that probably won't make a difference in my household. The program has done its damage well; there'll be full scale rebellion here if I try to serve lettuce from a bag ever again.)

As I caught only the tail end of the report myself, if anyone who saw this program wishes to elaborate in the comment section, your additional thoughts would be most welcome.