Leafal shopping

Hidden dangers in what you are putting in your trolley...

If you thought that salad was always the healthiest option, think again. Despite being labelled “ready to eat” or “washed”, bags of cut leaves are a breeding ground for salmonella – and prepared salad is now the second-biggest cause of food poisoning in the UK, scientists warn.

The findings are revealed in a new Channel 5 documentary,

Secrets of Your

Supermarket

Food, which airs tomorrow night.

The show also lifts the lid on the true age of supermarket apples, what is really in glutenfree bread and how proteinadded products are a “marketing gimmick” aimed at young men.

Here, we give you food for thought for your weekly shop...

CHOPPED lettuce is convenient but it could come at a price.

Scientists at the University of Leicester found damaged leaves in bags increase the growth of salmonella – a bacteria responsible for 50,000 deaths every year in Europe.

And juices leaching from the damaged leaves also make it harder to wash the bug off – a toxic combination that will cause sickness, stomach cramps, diarrhoea and infection

Microbiologist Dr Primrose Freestone said: “The liquid [brown in colour, which appears at the bottom of bags] increases the risk of harmful material growing. This bacterial soup is a breeding ground for salmonella.

“Exposure to this – a more aggressive, more dangerous bacteria – and eaten at the same time as salad leaves makes it more likely to cause an infection. “Wash salad as well as possible, avoid mashed-up leaves and swollen bags as that indicates something growing in there.” ARE you eating year-old fruit? That’s when your apples may have been picked.

Supermarkets can now supply us with almost every type of fruit, whatever the season.

But have you wondered how?

Dr Debbie Rees of the University of Greenwich is an expert in post-harvest technology and specialises in keeping apples and other fruit and veg fresh.

She reveals how, once harvested, apples destined for long-term storage go to chilled warehouses filled with a mixture of gases to stop ripening. Explaining why they don’t rot, she said: “We reduce the oxygen concentration, called controlled atmosphere storage, when we slow down that ripening process.

“At low temperatures, with the low oxygen we can slow ripening down so it takes seven or eight months or in some cases a year.” Secrets of Your Supermarket Food is on tomorrow at 8pm, C5.

GLUTEN-FREE breads are packed with a cocktail of additives and chemicals, including some used in the make-up and oil drilling industry, food campaigners claim.As more people buy glutenfree loaves to tackle gut issues, they are being warned up to 27 different products can be used to make them. In 2016, the glutenfree market was worth £2.5million. By 2020, it is set to be more than £670million, thanks to 13% of us now following the diet.Chris Young, a spokesman for theReal BreadCampaign, said gluten-free loaves should not be branded as bread.“You’ve got these loaves with a dozen or more things in them, things that you probably don’t recognise the names of,” he said.Dietician Aisling Pigott said: “We’ve got this perception that choosing the gluten-free bread or cake is healthier but it’s generally the same product with the gluten removed and other additives added in to make that product taste right.”The Gluten FreeIndustry Association said:“All food additives are assessed for safety and approved by the EuropeanFood Safety Authority.” SALAD DAZE Cut leaves can harbour salmonella bug, below PROTEIN-ADDED cereals, breads, noodles, yoghurt and even soup now dominate shelves – a trend driven by young men wanting to boost their muscles.And they come at a price. For example, a Snickers protein bar costs £2 – three times the price of a normal bar.But do we really need extra protein in our diets to be healthy? Nutritional therapist Thalia Pellegrini said men need 55g a day and a woman 45g – which can be obtained through a normal, balanced diet.And she warned having too much could lead to long-term damage, dubbing the products “a marketing gimmick”.She said: “If you have protein beyond your needs every day for an extended period, you might see some health effects. You might just be constipated, you might get bad breath. But if you did that long-term, you might see kidney damage.”The British Nutrition Foundation says a professional athlete might need around double the recommended amount of protein. So unless you’re doing serious levels of training every day and “as long as you are having some protein with every meal”, Thalia advised, protein-added products need not be on your menu.