Cross contamination

Cross contamination occurs when a contaminated food contaminates a surface or utensil, and that surface or utensil is used again to prepare something else. The same goes for the use of hands.
This is why we don't prepare raw meat on a cutting board, plate, pan etc. and then use that same item for cooked meat or another product without washing it inbetween procedures.

Vegetables such as leaf lettuce and celery can also cause cross contamination.
The question is: How do they cause contamination?
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The answer is because of bacteria in the soil.

Any thoughts here guys?

Good question Phil,

Pathogens related to vegetables:

E-coli 0157:H7...........Alfalfa sprouts, lettuce,raw ground beef.
Salmonella........Raw fruits and vegetables.
Bacillus Ceres.......Grains, meats, vegetables.

Vegetables can also carry Hepatitis A when infected through poor handling from an infected person.

Of course there are other things such as parasites, fertlizers, pesticides.....
that can contaminate veggies.

VitaminQ said:

I've heard that lettuce can be as significant a source of salmonella as chicken, but maybe it was e. coli. Anyway, evidently some of the pre-washed bagged salads have turned out to be not-so-washed here lately.

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The problem here, is when any food is over or highly processed, the risk of contamination is greater.
If the outside of the lettuce had some form of contamination, you wouldn't know it at home. But chances are that you would probably discard the few outside layers anyway. You are probably only using a head or two, or maybe less for your salad or whatever.

But here you have a factory that might not have as stringent of a quality control system,processing tons of material at a time.
One contaminated head of lettuce gets into this process and is chopped and exposed to all the others, contaminating everything.

Then this stuff is bagged, and sits for how long in warehouses and trucks before you get it, giving it a good long time for the bacteria to multiply.
Especially now with all the exposed cut edges of the lettuce.

A salad really isn't that hard to make, so I would suggest staying away from the processed bagged stuff.