What Makes a Tomato "Low Mold" Versus "High Mold" Anyway?

The last few days have seen lots of food news, including plenty of stories about a decade of dirty dealing in the tomato industry. California-based SK Foods and individuals from such well-know food processors as Kraft Foods, Safeway, and Frito-Lay were involved in all sorts of questionable activities, the end-result of which was that "high-mold" tomatoes made it into products (that we consumers then purchased and ingested) that should only have contained "low-mold" tomatoes.

Which raises the obvious question: what makes a tomato "high" or "low" mold? For an answer to that question we go to the Food and Drug Administration's Defect Levels Handbook, the guide to what defines an "actionable" defect in a regulated product, like tomatoes. The good news? An excess of mold in tomato products is considered an "aesthetic" defect rather than a "potential health hazard," meaning that although the defect is "offensive to the senses" it is not likely to make you sick.

How dangerous is this mold? Well according to Keith Ito, a safety specialist at the University of California, Davis' food preservation laboratory: "Several varieties of mold can grow on tomatoes and, although people should try to avoid eating them, they aren't dangerous ... [Those] normal spoilage molds" are a sign that tomatoes are overripe or have begun rotting in the field, he said."

If you're the kind of person that likes to believe processed foods are basically pure, I would recommend skipping the Defect Levels Handbook. I don't know about you, but it frightens me that there is even such thing as an "acceptable" level of "rodent filth" in my peanut butter...

(photo credit to Food Safety News for the gross moldy tomato;  credit for the Ito quote to Scripps and the Sacramento Bee)

More on Salad Safety: Defining "Coliforms" and More...

I posted a link the other day to a piece about a Consumer Report's study that revealed, much to many people's collective disgust,  the relatively high levels of microbial contamination in packaged and "pre-washed" salads. For most non-biologists, myself included, the study's discussion of "coliforms and other bacteria, including enterococcus, that are reliable indicators of fecal contamination and poor sanitation" suggested a variety of mental images I'd rather not associate with dinner.

Which is why this article from Food Safety News is so useful. Dr. Trevor Suslow, a "cooperative extension research specialist in postharvest quality and safety in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of California at Davis," provides a primer in the  terminology and science of salad safety, and basically concludes that while we might not like that our salad is full of coliforms, these microbes are generally and basically benign.

Suslow says that he personally does not re-wash packaged salads. He also offers this practical advice  for consumers of these products:
If one chooses to take advantage of the convenience and diversity of greens available in sensible serving portions or as complete salad meals, it is always best to look at the Best if Consumed By dating and take notice of the display case arrangement. Bags should be vertical in a row, not laid one on top of the other in stacks. Clamshell containers are displayed in various stacking or slanted row patterns which allow generous space for airflow.

Why We Should All Be Washing Our "Pre-Washed" Salad Greens...

Civil Eats is reporting on a new Consumer Reports test of those super-convenient pre-washed leafy greens we're all using.  Long story short, you're going to want to wash your greens, whether the bag says they've been "triple washed" or not. The folks at Consumers Union are using this as another argument to pass new food safety legislation. While I applaud that effort, I'm not sure there's a HACCP plan in the world that would make me confident enough not to wash anything I'm planning to eat raw. The Consumer Reports article is online here.