Buy pre-Washed vegetables? Question for chefs, restaurant managers, whoever

ajklsghlaksgj · #1 03-20-2008, 01:00 AM

Hello,

Is it possible to buy pre-washed, ready to eat fresh vegetables?

I envision being able to drive over some place and pick up a PE bucket of nice fresh vegetables, ready to eat (well, not cut up), every two days, or something.

It would make so much sense to buy food like meat and vegetables in a ready to eat form... no more food safety issues. No more liablity. Less drudgery. I was just toying with the idea of selling sandwiches at a nearby university, if I could get ready to use ingredients.

Can someone save me?

the_seraphim · #2 03-20-2008, 01:08 PM

just wash the vegetables.... it aint hard....

and yes... you can, are you in the UK or in the US? if your in the UK i can tell you exactly where to get them from

chefbrianb · #3 03-20-2008, 02:49 PM

Just a couple thoughts:
In this day and age you can buy meat/vegetables in almost every cleaned, cooked, prepped, sliced, etc. form imagineable. As you mentioned sandwich making, items such as pre-sliced tomatoes, onions, lettuce leaves would interest you and are all available from wholesalers.

This however in no way diminishes food safety issues. The are a million ways you can take these cooked/washed foods and contaminate them. Furthermore, it is my understanding that one of the current theories in the spinach e-coli break out a couple years ago had to do with the cleaning of the spinach during processing. Essentially, because so much spinach was cleaned together a small amount of bacteria was able to contaminate a huge amount of produce.

Finally, in my area something as seemingly simple as selling sandwiches at the local college would require a license from the local health department. This in turn requires the sandwich making facility to be fully inspected and approved by the health department like it was a restaurant. May be a lot of hassle to sell some sandwiches.

Montelago · #4 03-20-2008, 10:56 PM

Just research. Depending on what area you are in, there are all kinds of companies that do that. Here in Vegas the biggest ones are Get Fresh and Lagudi.

RSteve · #5 03-20-2008, 11:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ajklsghlaksgj

Hello, Is it possible to buy pre-washed, ready to eat fresh vegetables?

Every medium to large city has multiple vendors.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ajklsghlaksgj

Can someone save me?

No, I don't think so.

Bazza · #6 03-21-2008, 03:54 AM

LOL RSteve that is really funny

ajklsghlaksgj · #7 03-21-2008, 02:14 PM

Ah, thanks so much.

I did search, but I didn't find anything interesting. Now I see why - even when I go to get fresh's web site, nowhere does it say what they actually do.

The other company mentioned doesn't even have a web site.

I'm in canada, Ottawa. I guess I'll just call every entry under food products, wholesale, the category get fresh is under.

Cat Man · #8 03-21-2008, 05:58 PM

My problem with pre washed veggies is two pronged.
The shelf life is severely diminished, and the possibility of 'potato white' and crap like that being added is high.

There's also no guarantee that the veggies are free of any pathogens.

Cat Man

Montelago · #9 03-21-2008, 07:35 PM

All true, but they are a Godsend for buffets serving 4-6 thousand people a day, and banquets for 15 thousand.

Montelago · #10 03-21-2008, 07:50 PM

Try this
Produce Wholesale Companies List

ajklsghlaksgj · #11 03-22-2008, 06:12 AM

Cat Man:

But they will surely be safer than if you were to wash them yourself?

They'd tend to sit for longer, but the soil must be removed, so no toxoplasma or other non-self multiplying parasites....

Montelago:

That site's only for the US, though.

chefbrianb · #12 03-22-2008, 11:07 AM

Not necessarily safer. One current theory on the spinach e-coli outbreak a couple years ago is that a small amount of spinach was contaminated, but because it was washed in a huge plant the contamination spread to far more than originally contaminated.

Cat Man · #13 03-22-2008, 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ajklsghlaksgj

Cat Man:

But they will surely be safer than if you were to wash them yourself?

They'd tend to sit for longer, but the soil must be removed, so no toxoplasma or other non-self multiplying parasites....

Montelago:

That site's only for the US, though.

As ChefBrianB stated....
If you have a quality operation that is clean, there's is no reason why your 'prepped in house' produce shouldn't be as safe or safer than commercially prepped produce.

Chef_SijmoN · #14 03-25-2008, 07:27 PM

Here in sweden you cant get it from all the big wholesale companys and also the veggie companys that sales to restaurant but i hate it i dont se the point.

Ok if you cook for 4000-15000 people like Montelago said. But thats the only exception in my mind.

Cleaner maybe, but as far as i know its not a big problem with "normal" veggies either.

/SijmoN