Dreams of stardom have never really been a motivating force in my life, but tell THAT to my pesky subconscious. For some odd reason – particularly during stolen moments of illicitly divine slumber – it has “decided” to transport me onto a grand stage in front of thousands of my acting peers. (Acting what?) Clutching an Oscar in hand. (Oh right! Like that’s even remotely a possibility considering the odds…) Looking panic-stricken and teary-eyed while gathering my thoughts. (Yeah…who wouldn’t be?!?) Delivering an inspirational acceptance speech that garners a standing ovation. (Seriously…I pulled it off??) Being asked to strike an Oscar-winning pose against the velvet curtains. (Mayday-mayday! Must check teeth for salad stowaways!!) Displaying a wide-toothed, spinach-studded grin that makes everyone instantaneously leap out of their seats and launch high-pitched cackles of laugher that lasts for days on end. (Subconscious mind – remind me to give you a swift kick in the super-ego.) It’s hardly surprising that in my shining moment of glory, I’d get caught with leafy greens unfurling from the crevices of my teeth. Ever since companies like Dole, Fresh Express and Earthbound Farms came up with an effective way to tuck pre-washed leaves of folate-rich goodness into unassuming little plastic bags, I’ve been gamely crunching away. From a convenience standpoint, bagged salad really has become the very best thing since sliced bread -- it fulfills our cultural desire for instant edible gratification. It’s like cruising into a McDonald’s drive-through…except that we run no risk of falling prey to double bypass surgery each time we indulge. In fact, pre-washed greens are the yin to our shove-and-go yang – just open mouth and insert nutrition. If bagged salad companies could just figure out how to masticate our mouthfuls for us, then we would surely die with spinach-eating-grins on our faces.
On the other hand, many of us could have keeled over with the type of grin that…well, being that this is a G-rated blog post, suffice it to say that things got a ‘little gag-me-with-spoon’ for a while. E.coli-contaminated veggies are enough to creep-out any iron-stomached consumer, so I wouldn’t be surprised if salad farmers took a sizable hit following 2006’s highly-publicized outbreak. I, for one, gave bagged spinach the “Popeye” eye, and even though I tapped into such highly sophisticated powers of visual scrutiny, I was still unable to get the inside scoop on whether the greens in my clutches were endowed with the ability to liquefy the contents of my bowels. I wasn’t about to take my chances, either. Human nature is a quirky little thing, though, because after a few months passed and the bad press died out, I found myself gravitating back toward the emerald, nutrient-dense leaves once again. Come on…we all thought that we were “in the clear.”
I don’t want to run the risk of losing my captive audience with rants on the additional beloved veggie E.coli spin-offs that followed, but I will comment on the fact that farmers are crossing over to the dark side in order to ensure that it won’t happen again. Since there is a possibility that wildlife excrement could have been responsible for the outbreak, anxious farmers are purportedly:
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trapping and poisoning wildlife and/or obtaining gun licenses and acquiring gun skills so they can swiftly kill animals that wander on their property.
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decimating native vegetation around the circumference of farms in an effort to discourage animal visitors from sticking around.
Focus on the word “possibility” for just a moment, because the source of the spinach E.coli outbreak has actually never been confirmed. Thus far, growers have no idea if these extreme and hardly environmentally-friendly efforts will ensure that their crops will be protected from the dangerous bacterial strain. Detractors suggest that pre-cut salad greens are the real culprit, especially when increased temperatures trigger bacteria to thrive during processing. In the meantime, however, 47% of 181 salad growers in the United States have been pressured to destroy wandering wildlife (cattle, squirrels, feral pigs, birds, frogs, deer, mice, rabbits, etc.) and a shocking 90% of California’s leafy green farmers are already actively following through (Source: http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/). Quite like “blood diamonds” and the awful manner in which they’re obtained, I suddenly feel as though bagged salad has officially lost its brilliance. 
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http://agricultureguide.org/popeye-wouldnt-approve-spinach-farmers-e-coli-prevention-strategy/
Ahmet Korkmaz
said on May 29, 2009