I’ve quite often in the past told people that there is no excuse for eating poorly if you are in near proximity to a supermarket. If you need to eat or have forgotten your lunch, it’s as easy as nipping into the supermarket, buying a bag of pre-packaged salad leaves and a can of tuna and voila!! An easy and healthy meal.
Imagine my shock when a work colleague told me how they prepare the salads, that they are washed in chlorine – at concentrations 200 times as much as tap water!! Then they package it using Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP), a process whereby oxygen is removed from around the food in order to stop oxidation and the subsequent browning of leaves.
One Australian article on it stated “Unfortunately because of food safety scares in the US, UK and Japan with E.coli and Salmonella causing serious illness in people eating salad vegetables, processors must use this chlorine rinse for safety.” Hmmm… chlorine rinsed in a hardcore solution for our safety??? A study in the British Journal of Nutrition in 2003 also found that the antioxidant nutrients such as vitamin C and E, polyphenols and other micronutrients seemed to be lost in the MAP process. So we lose all the goodness and get extra chlorine? Is this a “healthy” solution?
Some countries, including Germany, Denmark, Holland and France do not allow chlorine washing of any fruits or vegetables; water used to wash them must not contain higher levels of chlorine than ordinary drinking water, and this chlorine rinsing process is banned for organic food.
I think I will be heading to my organic or fresh vegetable market a little more regularly to buy unwashed and non-treated leaves from now on!!
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Nice punctuation in my previous comment, oops sorry. LOL!!
I know Rae – it is scary isn’t it! Anything fresh that is Vacuum sealed potentially has chemicals via a gas within the sealed product to help keep it fresh and sometimes just to preserve the “look” of the item – such as meat. So any meat that has the harder clear plastic seal (such as those you can get in the major supermarkets) are the same deal. I think its awful! Another reason to buy as fresh and as locally as possible.
LMAO Lia… should I be worried that I read it the way it was meant to be written and didn’t even pick up on the incorrect punctuation?!
You are so spot on Andrea. The more I learn about nutrition, the better the choices I make with regards to it. xxx
In fairness Tuna isn’t that healthy. Considering the high Mercury levels, possible Cadmium and maybe even Lead.
Plus when you consider things like Nitrates, Phosphates, Fungicides, Herbicides, Insecticides and Pesticide, used on inorganic Plant matter, that might wash into in the water table, eventually into a water course, then eventually into seas and oceans, you might possibly get trace amounts of those in Fish too, I would suggest.
Reccomendations place Tuna at 2-3 portions a week these days, to probably assist chelation, though I believe Vit C can boost chelation of heavy metals.
Considering Omega 3, (Alpha Linolenic Acid), can convert into EPA and DHA in vivo, you don’t even really need Fish at all, because things like Flax, Omega 3 Eggs, (chickens fed Flax), Seeds, Oils, Peanuts, Nuts, Avocado, Nut based spreads and Milks and Soy and soy Products like Nattokinase, Tofu, Edamame, Soy Milk and Tempeh will give you those.
So it’s debateable if anyone should eat Fish, if only to help prop up a multi-million currency, world-wide industry each year, that potentially promotes inadequate nutrition potential for sea birds / sea life and maybe even eventually, the potential extinction of some Fish species, dependant on the amount of fishing.
You probably guessed I don’t eat Fish :-p :-p.
Not trying to sound controversial or put people off Fish, or criticise Fish eaters, just being honest. At least some ones like Tilapia and Salmon are low Mercury so much less chance of developing heavy Metal Poisoning.
I’m glad things are well with you. Keep on being you, as it really does mean so much and you DO make the world a better place misses.
BIG HUGS.
.
Matt
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The same goes for washed potatoes, they’re also washed in chlorine so that they clean and ready for peeling. *eeew* xxx