New instructions, use food and drink by use by date!

I never used to worry - but after a couple of bouts of vile poisoning, I am getting more cautious. Years ago produce was more local and water supplies were cleaner... The stuff advised is a Milton type formulation - as used to soak babies' bottles.

MayBee70

I got a salad spinner from a charity shop. But the bowl has got holes in the bottom so I have to put it in another bowl ( that’s obviously why it ended up in a charity shop). So I bought another one off the internet but it’s a bit big for the small amount of lettuce that I eat.

If it has a hole in the top, too, you could wash the leaves under running water. I think that is how you are supposed to use it.

May well be linked to all the pre washed ready to use salad leaves and of course lack of hand washing.

I’ve recently (5 weeks ago) come out of hospital after an awful bout of E.Coli & gastroenteritis.
I have never felt so ill in my life, I couldn’t stop vomiting and ‘the other’ at the same time for 10 days & nights. Didn’t sleep, didn’t eat or drink, even my sight went for 48 hours. It was so bad I was taken in to hospital by ambulance and kept in for a week then not allowed outdoors for another 3 weeks! I certainly wouldn’t want to go through that again, it’s affected everything at the moment, my infection levels, my liver & kidneys and I was on constant saline and potassium drips etc. I caught the E. Coli at a wedding reception (beef) and a meal on a very hot day that had been sitting around. I always rinse bags of pre bagged salad leaves in a dose of Milton. My Mother taught me to do that with all salad leaves pre bagged or not about 40 years ago so that’s habit now, but I always wash all fruit etc anyway due to all the sprays I know are sprayed on our food.

Oh dear.
I’ve just eaten some little gem salad leaves in a sandwich.

I rinsed some, then made and ate the sandwich before realising that I’d used the unwashed leaves instead of the rinsed ones.
Hope I don’t get stomach upset now,
And wish I hadn’t read this now.

Colls

Lollin

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn72m1e3ylko

Oh the rubbish being reported!

26% terrible, the figures quote show that is just scaremongering if you look at total figures!
" infections rose from 2,018 in 2023 to
2,544 in 2024 in England."

And then, we are NOT designed to eat sterilised food!

"This could be because young children's bodies have less time to build up protection against infection"
OK, but it goes on:
"... they are less likely to wash their hands properly or because they're more exposed to risks such as animals at petting farms.

Blaming animals again! It's exactly by NOT being so hygienic that children build up their immunity!!!!

What rot!

Angry beyond words 🤬
I hope the most respected secret ops in the world, our SAS are aware of these hygienic practices they should be practicing when they are in some of the most god forsaken unhygienic places on earth.
Or, perhaps they’re all dying of dysentery and being who they are we will never know 🤷‍♀️

I buy iceberg lettuces and discard the outside leaves. All of the remaining leaves are so tightly close to those next to them nobody could get their grubby fingers in there. There's more dirt down the hollow parts of spring onions than inside an iceberg lettuce.
If the pathogens are inside through contaminated irrigation with sewage sludge fertilisers, then wagging a leaf about under the tap isn't going to remove it! Any vigorous scrubbing will destroy the leaf.

Elegran

MayBee70

I got a salad spinner from a charity shop. But the bowl has got holes in the bottom so I have to put it in another bowl ( that’s obviously why it ended up in a charity shop). So I bought another one off the internet but it’s a bit big for the small amount of lettuce that I eat.

If it has a hole in the top, too, you could wash the leaves under running water. I think that is how you are supposed to use it.

It doesn’t. The water goes everywhere when I spin it. I now just wash a couple of lettuce leaves in salt and vinegar and dry them on kitchen towel.

MayBee70

I think you can buy something for sterilising fruit etc?

Permangate of potassium - doubt it is still used, but it was used for sterilising fruit and vegetables that could not be boiled or scalded.

I was in the M.E when a young Mum and the salad stuff was sterilised with Milton, you know what you use for the babies bottles.

Greciangirl

Oh dear.
I’ve just eaten some little gem salad leaves in a sandwich.

I rinsed some, then made and ate the sandwich before realising that I’d used the unwashed leaves instead of the rinsed ones.
Hope I don’t get stomach upset now,
And wish I hadn’t read this now.

Perhaps you could make yourself sick to get rid of all those nasties. 🤮

Earthmother9

I was in the M.E when a young Mum and the salad stuff was sterilised with Milton, you know what you use for the babies bottles.

I remember when my kids were babies and when they eventually had bottles it said to soak them in Milton and just drain them; no mention of rinsing them ( which I suppose could have reintroduced bacteria). But I always rinsed them in water that had been boiled as I hated them smelling of bleach.

I always wash lettuce in salted water. Also wash tomatoes. You don't know how they have been handled

granmarderby10, didn't they use milton to steralise babies bottles..

I always wash lettuce and fruit before I eat it,, but when I was a child I didn't , I'm 80 now and still alive and kicking.

pably15 yes baby bottle steriliser. It came as liquid or tablets which I buy sometimes just to make sure some difficult to clean food things are safe.
Most parents use a steam steriliser or similar nowdays for all things the baby comes into contact with.

Hospitals would advise mums to rinse with boiling water and swish out to mitigate the bleachy smell,
but if the parents were considered a “bit clueless” shall we say..then advice was just drain after removal from the tank!

I will probably opt for the “unwashed” salad leaves from now on and use my spinner at home because unwashed lasts longer than washed anyway. So more economical

It is a miracle that I have reached my 60’s and that my family, children and grandchildren have survived…

MayBee70

I think you can buy something for sterilising fruit etc?

Milton?

I think they're Milton tablets used for babies bottles (but then all you GNers would know that)

Amen

“Blaming animals again! It's exactly by NOT being so hygienic that children build up their immunity!!!!”

Yes children do need to build up immunity but if you are old or have pre existing illness you have poor immunity so WASH YOUR SALAD

No apologies for shouting.

Witzend

MayBee70

I think you can buy something for sterilising fruit etc?

Milton?

There’s something called Prepsaf…

GrannyGravy13

It is a miracle that I have reached my 60’s and that my family, children and grandchildren have survived…

Plus the fact that if you buy ( not me 😱 ) salad in a plastic bag it’s never felt a human hand on it. it’s all automated from seed to shelf
It’s wonder that all those poor sod’s working in the polytunnels in Spain aren’t dropping like flies handling all those nasties.
It’s a miracle, isn’t it 🤷‍♀️
Well is not actually, it’s a wonderful thing called our immune system that keeps billons of us alive.
But you carry on wasting the earths most precious resource: Water

Granmarderby10

They used Milton in the salad prep kitchen at the hospital for leaves. They went into a big sink.
Cut my finger quite badly on a mandolin there too slicing - of all things, tomatoes!🤬
Very wary of mandolins since.
Salad spinners are rather useful gadgets though

I’d never have a mandolin! We once arrived at friends’ house in rural N Devon, to find them out, the back door unlocked, and blood all over the kitchen floor.

Gadget-mad male friend had managed to slice the top off his finger, so it was ages before they got back, the nearest A&E being quite a way away.

The following morning, dh picked up the mandolin, steered gadget-mad friend to the bin, and dropped the mandolin in.

‘I paid thirty quid for that!’ said gadget-mad friend.
‘Tough!’ said dh.
It remained binned.

petra I have a lot of faith in the human immune system.

Our children played with mud, worms, insects, swam in the estuary at the end of our road. DD was often found in stables with a sandwich in one hand and shovelling poop in the other. Eaten fruit straight from trees and bushes.

Never have been sickly humans, all but one of the GC have been raised free range, the one that has been cosseted and baby wiped constantly is the one that is often poorly.