These Are the 10 Foods Most Likely to Be Recalled
Eat your greens, but with caution.
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Next time you go to make a nice, big salad, you may want to wash your greens a little while longer. That’s because, according to Consumer Reports, leafy greens rank as the number one riskiest food.
On Friday, Consumer Reports unveiled its latest analysis of risky foods, which it determined after analyzing data from the CDC, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Department of Agriculture between 2017 and 2022. According to the report, CR researchers focused on "widely consumed foods" that all had recalls over the selected period.
"We aren’t saying people need to avoid these foods entirely," Brian Ronholm, who both led the analysis and is the director of food policy at Consumer Reports, shared in a statement. "After all, these foods are usually safe, and many of them are important parts of a healthy diet."
Related:Here's the Best Way to Wash Apples, According to Science
Ronholm added that these findings should remind people of the "importance of following best food safety practices with all your foods, including knowing how to track and respond to food recalls when they happen."
The top 10 riskiest foods ranked include:
Leafy greens
Deli cheese and meat
Ground beef
Onions
Turkey
Chicken
Papayas
Peaches
Cantaloupe
Flour
As for why leafy greens ranked number one, Consumer Reports explained that romaine lettuce and bagged salads had been recalled over the 2017 to 2022 period due to E. Coli and Listeria contamination. Consumer Reports noted it’s also a product that many people eat raw, which leads to higher chances of illness. "Heating kills bacteria, but most people, understandably, don’t want to cook their lettuce," Rogers added.
Consumer Reports explained, leafy greens were "responsible for the most deaths in our analysis, and the second largest number of recalls and outbreaks — 50, in fact, compared with 30 for chicken, turkey, and ground beef combined."
To reduce your chance of becoming ill from your greens, Consumer Reports suggested that consumers look for whole-head lettuce, even better if you can find hydroponic or greenhouse-grown. And, like always, rinse all fresh produce to remove dirt to further remove remaining pathogens.
And, as an upside, Consumer Reports noted that several large market chains, including Costco and Whole Foods, have launched internal programs requiring certain leafy green products to be tested for pathogens before they are stocked in store, to help reduce its consumers' fears. See the entire report on www.consumerreports.org
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