If the bag says it’s “pre-washed spinach,” should you trust it or rinse it before eating? While there’s much debate about this online, this petri dish aficionado finds interesting results after swabbing a bag of spinach for bacteria.
What are the results?
Alex English, better known as @howdirtyis on TikTok, tests several items for bacteria. They swab an item, put it in a test tube solution, and then rub that swab on a petri dish. The end result is a petri dish with signs of bacteria or a clean surface.
For this video, English swabs a bag of pre-washed spinach. The petri dish came back with bacteria on it. However, is this a bad thing?
The video has 131,400 views and over 200 comments as of Saturday morning.
@howdirtyis How dirty are those pre washed veggie mixes? #science #germ #sciencebiatch #gross #nasty #howdirtyis #dirty #interesting #bacteria #sciencetok #cool #fyp #clean #foryou #micro #curious #サイエンス #科学 #実験 #バクテリア #funfact #facts #fact #germs #interestingfact #interestingfacts #amazingfact #amazingfacts #amazing #randomfacts #randomfact #randomfactsforyou #factstime #dailyfact #funfacts #factoftheday #funfactoftheday #bio #biology #biomed #lab #labwork #cleantok#laboratorio #biologia #microbiologia #scitok #ScienceTok #scienceismagic #scienceiscool #sciencefair #foreigngerms #germsquad #mygerms #viral #bacterial #bacterialcontamination #petriedish #実験 #面白い #面白い動画 #viral #viralvideo #viraltiktok #trending w#trendingvideo #trendingtiktok #세균 #stem #stem #stemfeed #STEMfeed #longervideos #과학 #과학실험 #실험 #박테리아 #웃긴영상 #재미있는영상#scienceexperiment #scienceexperiments #experiment #learnontiktoktogether ♬ Taste – Sabrina Carpenter
What are viewers saying?
Some viewers remind others that just because the spinach had bacteria does not mean it’s the end of the world. They also point out flaws in the test for this pre-washed spinach.
“It’s not really helpful if you’re not going to re-test after rinsing. Like, does rinsing it make a difference? Also, can you identify what bacteria was present on the first test?” one user pointed out.
“Y’all forget most bacteria is harmless or even beneficial,” another said.
“As soon as you grabbed the bag I knew I didn’t want to know the answer,” one wrote.
“I mean, duh… rinsing the spinach won’t remove bacteria anyway. and it’s not helpful if I don’t know what kinda of bacteria is growing. do this with yogurt or kimchi and it’ll be even worse,” another said.
“Thank you for this public service announcement,” wrote another.
Is it safe to eat pre-washed spinach?
What does pre-washed even mean? According to Consumer Reports, packages that say they are pre-washed typically mean they have been rinsed to remove dirt and debris and then placed in a sanitizer, and then rinsed again.
Interestingly enough, experts say that if a green says it’s pre-washed, it’s safe to eat because of the extensive washing process, as reported by SELF Magazine. Apparently, rewashing the green can make it vulnerable to contaminants in your kitchen, says Ghaida Havern, MS, a food safety specialist at Michigan State University Extension.
While it seems counterintuitive, you may be better off not re-washing your pre-washed greens, according to some experts. So what bacteria exactly did English find on their petri dish and is it harmful? The Daily Dot has reached out to English for further information via TikTok message and comment.
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