Pre Sliced Fruits And Veggies

[dhiltonlittle]

I was thinking about this the other day. The store had containers of pre sliced fruits and veggies that looked great. problem is, who knows what the cutting surface was or what else the knife was used for. any thoughts? would you be eat them? seems risky to me!

[eva-girl]

my mother always says about leftovers in the fridge: when in doubt, throw it out.

i have ammended that for celiacs: when in doubt, go without.

[kareng]

I think that the store should follow Health Department guidelines and utensils and cutting surfaces should be clean. But, I think we all know that mistakes or laziness happens sometimes. One grocery I go to cuts the fruit and veggies on a table behind the salad bar. I have never seen them cut anything else on that table. Its across the store from prepared, fried chicken, deli sandwiches, etc. One grocery cuts the fruit on the same counter that later in the day they make sandwiches. I think it depends on the store. So I agree with the "When in doubt.." comment.

[conniebky]

I buy the whole thing, celery, cantaloupe, cucumbers, etc., and I peel them, cut them up and eat them! and child, it's WAY cheaper too! You already know they use the same knife, I mean, I think they do! It is SOOOO much cheaper, plus, no worries, you know what's gone on with it!

[ravenwoodglass]

It depends on the store, in Wegmans they have a seperate area right in the center of the produce where it is cut and nothing else is cut there and I have never seen an employee eating in that area. In my local smaller grocery store I now won't touch it. I kept getting mystery glutenings and eventually I peeked in the back room where they cut veggies and the employees were sitting around the large cutting board table eating lunch. I only buy whole veggies and fruits from there now.

[skigirlchar]

even at the best stores i won't - and not even for the fear of CC from gluten to the fruits, but from CC BETWEEN fruits (pineapple could kill me)

even the best stores are only as good as their weakest link and my health is too important.

plus - you never know what other customers leave at the counter - i've seen people put stuff in those containers and then put it back - YUCK

[rdunbar]

Funny. I'm visiting my family and my mom bought me some pre sliced mango with the best of intentions and I realized it just wasn't worth the risk. She has been very understading and supportive but you can only explain so much at a time. I just declined to eat it w/ out a fuss

[Skylark]

They keep finding E. coli and other nasties on packaged salad greens. That's pretty much put me off the whole packaged, washed vegetable thing, gluten or not.

[masterjen]

I won't buy the precut either. For the same reason, I won't eat out - I know many restaurants use pre-cut items, or even canned fruits and veggies from who-knows-where. I have yet to see a can of fruit say "prepared in a gluten-free facility", and I'd be particularly leery of where they got those canned goods from - restaurants like deals, and I'm sure they would typically go for the cheapest, no matter where it came from. In my area, ethnic restaurants, for example, are infamous for importing goods from foreign countries and sometimes manage to avoid all the necessary inspections when shipped goods come in. So, my so-called gluten-free meal, which even if very carefully prepared at the particular restaurant, still has risk of cc as far as I am concerned.