Ready-to-use salad: Attention, increased risk of salmonella infection

If you live alone, want a quick and healthy lunch, or just don't feel like eating a piece of bread, you'll want to have a ready-made salad. This has its advantages. But be careful: packaged lettuce can develop germs or even salmonella! We reveal what to look for with a ready-made salad.

Ready salad: This is how harmful germs develop

As long as the lettuce leaf remains entirely on the head, the possibility of spore formation does not increase.

However, the leaves are often cut into bags or bagged lettuce. Once a lettuce leaf is damaged, the leaf sap comes out. This can be a problem because the liquid provides a good breeding ground for harmful bacteria. The dreaded diarrhea trigger Salmonella enterica can thrive and thrive under these conditions.

A few days pass from the time of cutting, packing, delivery and sale. During this period, 100 bacteria can multiply to 100.00. In the case of salmonella, a biofilm of pathogens is formed over time, which is difficult to wash off.

How likely is it to get a salmonella infection from a ready-made salad?

If the lettuce comes from a field farm, it has a higher chance of developing salmonella than vegetables grown indoors. In open fields, Salmonella can get onto plants through insects, bird droppings, or fertilizers. Spinach in particular is at risk here!

But don't panic: Salmonella infection this way is rather rare.

However, due to the good conditions for the formation of harmful microbes, gastrointestinal complaints can occur quickly after eating a ready-made salad.

Pay attention to this with packaged lettuce:

Only buy a can of salad with a sufficient best-by date

Always keep salad in the refrigerator

Consume the ready-made salad as quickly as possible

Wash the lettuce well - even if it has already been washed according to the instructions on the package

Young children, pregnant women, the elderly, and people with weakened immune systems or existing digestive problems should only eat fresh lettuce instead of packaged lettuce.

Do not consume ready-made salad regularly