Rewash and re-sanitize vegetables for salads

Our shelf life guidelines for processed vegetables (washed, sanitized, cut into specs) is 24 hours. Recently, due to inconsistent order volumes, we have problems with leafy greens esp. lettuces (romaines, icebergs, frisee, corals), where we often over processed and end up with so many remaining. Since we have the 24hour shelf life, the only thing to do is to dump in the waste. But you see, these lettuces are quite expensive from where i came from so naturally, i'm hearing so many bad feed backs on the strict shelf life guideline. And upon checking, these lettuces are still in good shape, the crispiness, the color are still good.

My question is, after 24 hours, is it acceptable to re-wash and re-sanitize (in chlorine 75ppm for 5-10mins) these leafy greens? I am totally not agree with the suggestion since we use these greens for ready to eat cold meals (salads, appetizer and sandwiches) but just so to rest my thoughts.

Any comments?

Thanks,

Hi Majoy,
My opinion would be that the shelf life is a quality and not a safety decision- and i think an organoleptic assessment has proved as effective as any method in determining fitness for purpose.

I have come across quite a few establishments where 48hrs shelf life is commonplace-(but of course you have to take into consideration how long after that they are actually going to be consumed and how they will deteriorate prior to-which maybe is where your 24 hrs comes from? )

Can't personally see why you would need to rewash/resantise providing it had been done correctly initially and storage conditions had not tintroduced further contamination

Regards

Mike

Dear majoy ,

I’m not quite clear about yr process. Are you packaging the product for retail sale or is it being used in a salad-bar type situation. ? Or ?

If the latter, the refs I found agreed with the 24 hrs –

Fresh_Produce_Code of Practice FSAI-1.pdf   327.23KB   96 downloads
(eg pg 59)
dod_producetips.pdf   1.59MB   78 downloads
(eg pg 11)
FOOD_SERVICE_SANITATION.doc   111.5KB   63 downloads
(eg no.64)

If the former, seems to get more complicated, eg

Teagasc manual on ready to use fruit and vegetables.pdf   402.48KB   78 downloads

(first and last refs courtesy of Rosie’s post in another thread )

Rgds / Charles.C

Do some work on it!

I'd test the salads organoleptic qualities after 24 hours and if they are still fresh and crisp looking, put them in some trial products, test the starting material and final products throughout life for micro and organoleptic and make a call. It might be that you retain the 24 hour shelf life and then do a rolling 4 hour concession on them (only by QA) up to a maximum of 48 hours but like anything with shelf life it should be validated to check it's suitable organoleptically and microbiologically.

Oh, ditto, I see no reason to rewash. Likely to cause more leaf damage and, hence, reduced shelf life IMO.

Dear majoy ,

I’m not quite clear about yr process. Are you packaging the product for retail sale or is it being used in a salad-bar type situation. ? Or ?

If the latter, the refs I found agreed with the 24 hrs –

Fresh_Produce_Code of Practice FSAI-1.pdf   327.23KB   96 downloads
(eg pg 59)
dod_producetips.pdf   1.59MB   78 downloads
(eg pg 11)
FOOD_SERVICE_SANITATION.doc   111.5KB   63 downloads
(eg no.64)

If the former, seems to get more complicated, eg

Teagasc manual on ready to use fruit and vegetables.pdf   402.48KB   78 downloads

(first and last refs courtesy of Rosie’s post in another thread )

Rgds / Charles.C

Hi Charles,

Thanks for the attachments, they're a good read.

Our process would be like this:
1. Remove damaged parts and insects and pre-wash leafy greens with water
2. Sanitized in chlorine solution
3. Process (cut into required sizes amd shapes)
4. Store in chiller (less than 5degC temp)

After step 4, the 24 hour shelf life applies for processed leafy greens

5. Use processed leafy greens in salads (mix with dressing, sauces), inside sandwiches and appetizers.
6. Pack in casseroles or wrap sandwich in plastic wrap

After Step 6, the shelf life of the food (salad, sandwich, appetizer) where the leafy greens are used is 24 hours.


Probably, the best solution is not to extend the shelf life, but process less leafy greens to avoid over production and waste of money. But of course, Production would hate that, they couldn't rely on their initial volumes and forecasts.

First you must know why confirmed the shelf life is 24hrs,Why not 48hrs?56hrs?Maybe there is some standards to obey.then you can look for the reasons limited the extend of shelf life.I think you can succcess!

Seriously, look at extending post wash life (you may find some leafy greens are more resilient than others for example), or look at a 4 hour (or even 2 hour) concession as I suggested providing validation supports it (it's unlikely that a piece of lettuce is ok at 23:59 hours and not at 24:01!) I used to work in sandwiches where life of 24 hours was achieved internally and 2 day life was given on sandwiches containing leaf.

Also check the weights of leaf going into the salads. Production can be little tinkers for saying "look there's all this waste you're not letting me use" and then you realise they've been underfilling on that portion in the unit because it's "difficult to weigh" and as leaves are light, an underfill on that component of a gram may look like a significant amount when it's left as waste at the end of a run!

The other thing is they need to be processing and washing 24/7 to avoid this and have efficient changeovers. No point in washing kilos of iceberg in the morning then expecting not to go back to iceberg at all just for sake of "efficiency" if they then waste it later. They'd be better washing enough to do 3/4 of the expected orders as if they're not complaining about finished product waste I suspect they're either only making small runs prior to orders coming in and topping up later as they need it or they're waiting till the orders to do the runs (in which case if they only do part of the expected leaf quota, once they order comes in they can start washing more if needed while starting the line. Once the line needs the rest of the leaf it should be ready.)

Seriously, I think you need to look at having some flexibility in the life (only what you think will make a safe, good quality product) and production need to have some flexibility in their planning (a touch of SMED perhaps to make changeovers between leaves quicker?) Work together and look at the whole problem not just the symptom of the leaf waste! You might achieve something great!

Dear All,

As suggested by 2 previous posts, this might, with all due respect , be the first priority -

Maybe there is some standards to obey

Have you done it yet ?

Rgds / Charles.C

added -

2 day life was given on sandwiches

I presume you mean +2 days on top of preparation day?. This seems to be out-of-line with my first attachment above (+1day) so i guess that standards exist but vary ? It would seem to have relevance to the handling options.

One thing for sure is that the sandwiches in the home refrigerator probably never get watched so carefully I hv also noticed that some bought salad mixes can be readily stored for 4-5 days without visible browning whereas other sources already fail in 2 days, very suggestive of something extra somewhere.

Yep pack + 2 days for sandwiches containing leaf.

I understander your mean is to reduce the waste,if your products 's shelf life is enough long,I think you can solve the problem.we have the same product like you ,the shelf life of our product is about 3-4 days.we confirm the shelf life of product according to the resule of organoleptic assessment and microbiology detection.

Our shelf life guidelines for processed vegetables (washed, sanitized, cut into specs) is 24 hours. Recently, due to inconsistent order volumes, we have problems with leafy greens esp. lettuces (romaines, icebergs, frisee, corals), where we often over processed and end up with so many remaining. Since we have the 24hour shelf life, the only thing to do is to dump in the waste. But you see, these lettuces are quite expensive from where i came from so naturally, i'm hearing so many bad feed backs on the strict shelf life guideline. And upon checking, these lettuces are still in good shape, the crispiness, the color are still good.

My question is, after 24 hours, is it acceptable to re-wash and re-sanitize (in chlorine 75ppm for 5-10mins) these leafy greens? I am totally not agree with the suggestion since we use these greens for ready to eat cold meals (salads, appetizer and sandwiches) but just so to rest my thoughts.

Any comments?

Thanks,

Seriously, look at extending post wash life (you may find some leafy greens are more resilient than others for example), or look at a 4 hour (or even 2 hour) concession as I suggested providing validation supports it (it's unlikely that a piece of lettuce is ok at 23:59 hours and not at 24:01!) I used to work in sandwiches where life of 24 hours was achieved internally and 2 day life was given on sandwiches containing leaf.

Also check the weights of leaf going into the salads. Production can be little tinkers for saying "look there's all this waste you're not letting me use" and then you realise they've been underfilling on that portion in the unit because it's "difficult to weigh" and as leaves are light, an underfill on that component of a gram may look like a significant amount when it's left as waste at the end of a run!

The other thing is they need to be processing and washing 24/7 to avoid this and have efficient changeovers. No point in washing kilos of iceberg in the morning then expecting not to go back to iceberg at all just for sake of "efficiency" if they then waste it later. They'd be better washing enough to do 3/4 of the expected orders as if they're not complaining about finished product waste I suspect they're either only making small runs prior to orders coming in and topping up later as they need it or they're waiting till the orders to do the runs (in which case if they only do part of the expected leaf quota, once they order comes in they can start washing more if needed while starting the line. Once the line needs the rest of the leaf it should be ready.)

Seriously, I think you need to look at having some flexibility in the life (only what you think will make a safe, good quality product) and production need to have some flexibility in their planning (a touch of SMED perhaps to make changeovers between leaves quicker?) Work together and look at the whole problem not just the symptom of the leaf waste! You might achieve something great!

Hi GMO!

Thanks so much for the wonderful insight. highly appreciate it.

I don't have problems with the leaf now as i've retained the 24h shelf life after washing, sanitizing and use in sandwich, appetizers and salads and plus 24 for the finished product because it is a customer dictated requirement for our internal procedure.

I had a major discussion with Production and as you mentioned, they have adjusted their deadline. :)

Happy about that since nothing was compromise on my side.

Majoy

Dear Majoy,

Good to hear you found a solution.

The variation in suggested shelf-lives mentioned in this thread illustrates the range of safety opinions, all hopefully of equal validatability (or containing variable safety factors perhaps? ).

GMO's (prod. + 2 days) appears to match the UK viewpoint ( ) (see pg13 below)

micro.safety pre-packaged sandwiches - 09NS1.pdf   671.01KB   59 downloads
(includes some interesting data on actual storage / not following the labelled use-by)

This document on establishing shelf-life may also be of interest -

shelf - life guidance gn18.pdf   443.09KB   102 downloads

I just bought some (cooled / open display) tuna and shrimp sandwiches (not in UK), labelled shelf-life was similar to Eric Yang.
(sighhhhh)(maybe extra preservatives)

Rgds / Charles.C

Hi,

The answer here was in the first sentence "our shelf life is 24 hours"
Who decided this? It has no legal basis? Why not look into extending it.

Carry out a good shelf life and organoleptic test of your lettuce etc.
Determine the shelf life. be honest!

If you achieve your 48 hours or greater, bring your results to your regulator, sit down with them and agree the change to your shelf life and procedure.
Update your system and away you go.

As regards rewashing etc, this is a bad job in so many ways- taking away the natural flora of the food, actually adding contamination etc.....if you've used Cl in the first wash you wont have any food safety bacteria issues, trust me I'm also a chemist. Spoilage is the issue here.
Everything on Gods Earth once harvested is either dying or dead! Think of yourself as a veggie mortician!

Hope this helps,
Donal