RAW FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
THIS SITE IS STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION. MUCH MORE CONTENT TO BE ADDED.
* Should I still wash pre-packaged spinach before eating?
If you eat anything raw (meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, shellfish, dough, eggs, milk, or cheese made from unpasteurized milk), you have to accept an increased risk of acquiring unwanted pathogenic agents. The risk varies enormously, from very small to substantial. You have simply ignored a “kill step” between the origin and your body.
Spinach eaten raw, (especially “organically produced”) sometimes includes what was in the soil, in the fertilizer, in the irrigation water, or in the bird poop before the crop was harvested. The same applies to Romaine, Bib, and Boston lettuce. You may get away with it for a while, but don't complain when you have an enterohaemorrhagic E. coli infection. It was avoidable.
Any salad greens that are pre-washed need to be washed again. I avoid any package of mixed, chopped/shredded greens. We know E. coli sticks very effectively to the cut/torn ends of the leaves, making washing ineffective.