591247 Tue Jan 27 11:38:15 -0800 2009 24 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 4362519 Never buy the stuff but bought some baby spinach that was a on sale and it had this strong chemical odor...is this the norm? Tue Jan 27 11:38:15 -0800 2009 97452 Beach Chick 1 4362565 I buy arugula in bags but have never noticed an odor. 'Course maybe because arugula has its own smell. Tue Jan 27 11:49:21 -0800 2009 4362519 131001 c oliver 1 4362657 most of them do, because of the solution the packers use to clean it. i find the odor so offensive that i stopped buying the bagged stuff a long time ago. since i ended up washing it anyway, it wasn't any more convenient than buying it loose or in bunches. Tue Jan 27 12:14:33 -0800 2009 4362519 103920 goodhealthgourmet 1 4362677 It may be the norm. I have smelled an odor every time I've ever used a bag. Not a bad odor, but certainly not the smell of fresh lettuce. Obviously it's what they wash it in. Tue Jan 27 12:19:25 -0800 2009 4362519 50258 Axalady 1 4362681 Last place I worked we bought it in commercial sizes (5lb bags). We had to open them the day before and put them in bus tubs in the walk-in to air out the plastic/chemical stench. It was fine after doing that. Tue Jan 27 12:20:16 -0800 2009 4362519 140140 mrbigshotno.1 1 4362694 I just smelled a "clamshell" of pre-washed spinach and don't smell a thing. And I have very sensitive smell. Do you think it's the bag rather than the product itself? Tue Jan 27 12:26:02 -0800 2009 4362519 131001 c oliver 2 4363430 I've always thought it was the bag as it doesn't have a "smell" when I buy in a plastic box or the bag helps keep the cleaning solution strong. It got so bad for me that I just can't buy those bags anymore. Tue Jan 27 15:38:09 -0800 2009 4362694 138943 grouper 3 4363848 interesting point. it's very possible that the clamshell packages are more breathable/porous than bags, allowing the chemical odor to dissipate. Tue Jan 27 18:18:18 -0800 2009 4363430 103920 goodhealthgourmet 4 4363989 I think you're right. My mom taught me this ridiculous process to go through to buy bagged lettuce (I almost always buy the clamshell) and it still doesn't work half the time. In order to get the least smelly bag, you have to make sure the bag is not very wet and that it has very little air in it. Once you get air/wetness, that thing is going to smell to high heaven when you open it up. I still look for the dryest clamshell, but I rarely open one up that smells. Tue Jan 27 19:04:04 -0800 2009 4363848 107671 queencru 5 4366187 I look for a relatively dry bag, too. Also a good sell-by date. Finally, if you see even one decaying leaf, don't buy that bag. Wed Jan 28 11:49:08 -0800 2009 4363989 56467 Angela Roberta 1 4362908 don't they wash the stuff in some kind of chlorine solution (or something! don't quote me) Tue Jan 27 13:11:36 -0800 2009 4362519 74905 jaykayen 1 4364044 bagged salads smell makes me feel ill. I would rather buy a lettuce and some loose leaves and make my own. Tue Jan 27 19:17:43 -0800 2009 4362519 22559 smartie 1 4364103 A few years back I was hitting the salad bar at work pretty regularly at lunch (I work at a hospital, and for a captive audience, we could do a lot worse for the most part). Around that time I started itching and getting these galloping hives, and was quite the mess. I would take a round of prednisone, it would go away, and when I stopped the cortisone the hives came right back. That happened twice. I finally went to urgent care because I was such an itchy mess, the doc put me on Zyrtec and something else and it finally went away, but in the meantime I had tired of the salad bar and moved on. This is making a short story long, but we had been complaining amongst ourselves that they didn't wash the lettuce and it smelled vaguely like formaldehyde. I haven't bellied up to the salad bar the same way since, and have heard other stories of people with digestive upsets and hives and so forth regarding the salad bar. That's why I ALWAYS wash my greens even if they're 'prewashed' and 'organic'. There's something they're treated with to make them stay fresh longer and it doesn't agree with me. If you grow your own, they absolutely never smell like that. Tue Jan 27 19:32:35 -0800 2009 4362519 105625 EWSflash 2 4364850 A few years ago she started having a reaction to baby carrots that was similar to your salad bar reaction. She would have baby carrots in her lunched, her lips would swell, eyes watered, and was generally itchy all over. Carrots peeled and cut at home are fine, but the stuff pre peeled/cut and treated at the store makes her sick... I have no doubt that the culprit is something in the treatment that keeps pre-prepped veggies fresh. Wed Jan 28 06:23:42 -0800 2009 4364103 135311 mpjmph 1 4364413 Modified Atmospheric Packaging. When the bags are sealed, the regular "air" is removed and replaced with another gas to retard spoilage. That's why that bagged lettuce ships well, stays fresh in the grocery and in your fridge, UNTIL you open it, and then it resumes its regular schedule for spoiling when it's exposed to normal air. Sometimes it's nitrogen or carbon dioxide, but I've been told that there are more advanced methods that can be used. All naturally occurring gasses. Can't remember what they are.... Just open the bag early enough to let the greens breath some fresh air for awhile. They'll be fine. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modified_atmosphere Tue Jan 27 21:51:41 -0800 2009 4362519 32444 MakingSense 2 4364664 Bagged lettuce doesn't stay fresh though. I can't tell you how many I've opened before the expiration date that were completely rotten/inedible. Wed Jan 28 04:29:10 -0800 2009 4364413 107671 queencru 3 4364831 It's been a while but I used to work for Dole and for Fresh Express. The air in the bags (and the bags themselves) are designed for the respiration rate of the vegetables in the bag. The air itself is only different from regular air in its proportion of gases. There's nothing unusual in it. Theoretically, the bagged vegetables should last longer than regular ones but it depends a lot on the handling. You're having to trust that the vegetables are quickly cooled after being picked and then held at that temperature the whole time until it gets to your store and that's not always the case, obviously. In the summer, theoretically, the problem is worst because the boxes have to be loaded, unloaded, shipped, etc. As truck are unloaded, it's not uncommon for them to leave them in the heat before putting them back in the refrigeration; the same with the grocery store end. As for the smell that most CHers complain about, it's probably from the chlorine bath (a long tube of chlorinated water that they're washed in). Some people have more sensitive smell and notice it but most, believe it or not, don't. It doesn't surprise me that CHers who like food notice it more. And, I've heard that Asians are more sensitive to chlorine smell. Wed Jan 28 06:17:27 -0800 2009 4364664 39874 chowser 4 4375473 I'm not talking about the smell of chlorine. The smell is distinctly formaldehyde-like. I don't think they're getting lettuce from Dole or Fresh Express. I've used those a lot and they don't have a strange odor. Sat Jan 31 09:46:59 -0800 2009 4364831 105625 EWSflash 1 4366165 Great replies! For me its a chlorine smell that is overwhelming.. I just don't understand how a consumer can buy and use bag lettuce. Wed Jan 28 11:44:24 -0800 2009 4362519 97452 Beach Chick 1 4366548 You may want to check out this article on gassing food: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/just-say-no-to-convenience-food.html Wed Jan 28 13:20:04 -0800 2009 4362519 224238 Caralien 2 4366588 I'm curious what toxic chemicals she's talking about, with the gassing and if she's gotten it (or Sophie Uliano) from a reliable source. Wed Jan 28 13:27:38 -0800 2009 4366548 39874 chowser 3 4366765 I don't like my food smelling like gas upon opening, and this list put me off: http://pesticideinfo.org/DS.jsp?sk=13024#TopChems I'll still be purchasing packaged produce (ie bagged or clamshelled spinach) when I can't pick them up at the Farmer's Market, but it all makes me uneasy even if the chemicals are deemed to be in perfectly safe quantities by the FDA. Wed Jan 28 14:02:25 -0800 2009 4366588 224238 Caralien 4 4366819 CO2 isn't toxic, though. Plus, the bags aren't blasted with CO2 but the higher content is due to natural respiration of lettuce. It's a far cry from "the leaves have to be gassed with some horribly toxic chemicals, Uliano says" from the greenliving article. While I try to be as "green" as possible, I've found there are far too many sites out there that don't have all the facts. I don't love packaged salads and generally make it myself (or maybe I should say assemble since it's just cutting and throwing together). But packaged is quick and easy and, if we have some around, my kids eat more vegetables when I can't do it. I've read that spinach intake has increased something like three fold since it's been packaged. Anything that gets people to eat more vegetables isn't a bad thing, IMO. Wed Jan 28 14:13:46 -0800 2009 4366765 39874 chowser 5 4375482 My mother, an industrial-grade dilettante if there ever was one, use to go off on tirades about fruits "being gassed with ethylene gas (make distateful and superior face here) and how she would have ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with it. I think she equated the gassing of fruits and vegetable with concentration camps and The Man trying to poison us or some illogical blend of the two. I tried and tried to tell her that she was doing the same thing when she put a green tomato in a bag with a banana, but she flat-out refused to believe me. Sat Jan 31 09:52:15 -0800 2009 4366819 105625 EWSflash 6 4383440 I do that with under-ripe avocados too. Tue Feb 03 08:55:58 -0800 2009 4375482 224238 Caralien