[net.cooks] chemicals on salad bars?

barbaral (03/15/83)

Someone told me that restuarants often put some sort of chemicals
on their salad bars to keep the vegetables in better shape.
Has any one heard of this, if so what chemical is it?  I've
heard some grocery stores spray their produce with some sort of
sulfide derivative to keep the vegetables looking fresher.  
Any info would be appreciated.

wolit (03/16/83)

	Someone told me that restuarants often put some sort of chemicals
	on their salad bars to keep the vegetables in better shape.
	Has any one heard of this, if so what chemical is it?  I've
	heard some grocery stores spray their produce with some sort of
	sulfide derivative to keep the vegetables looking fresher.  
	Any info would be appreciated.

A few weeks ago, "60 Minutes" (I think it was) ran a story on this.
It seems that the food service and retailing industries use an
anti-oxidant (sodium sulfite, if memory serves) to keep food attractive.
The FDA classifies this stuff as safe, but some people are
hypersensitive to it, and develop allergic-type reactions that are
potentially very dangerous.  Some groups are trying to get the FDA to
force users of these chemicals to inform their patrons and customers
that they are doing so.  Naturally, the industry is fighting this.
My personal feeling is that the customers do have a right to know if
their health is being threatened (even if this only affects a very
small fraction of the population).  My guess is that the industry's
insurers will probably force them either to give up the practice or
post warnings, since they are otherwise open to liability claims by
anyone who eats there and has a bad reaction.

	Jan Wolitzky

gary (03/17/83)

Is true: they do use chemicals on things to keep them fresher; there
was a 60 minutes segment on it recently. A small fraction of the 
population is affected by these chemicals, and can be put into a coma by
eating them. A woman on the show said she can't even be sure if she asks
first: one restaurant assured her that they didn't use them and they ended
up in the emergency room in a coma, and almost died. She ends up cooking
her own food and bread (I think the chemicals were sulfides).

gary cottrell

borman (03/22/83)

	I used to work in a resturant as a cook, and all lettuce
	(and sometimes other salad items) were all soaked in some
	stuff that went by the brand name of "Snow White", (the spelling
	might have been different (sno white)) which was some sort
	of preservative.  It would take those small brown spots out,
	and help the lettuce stay crisp and fresh longer.  I don't
	know what was in the stuff, but it was mixed at a ratio of
	about 2 tablespoons to 5-10 gallons of water, and after it
	had soaked for a while, the lettece was thoughly rinsed before
	use.  If it wasn't rinsed, you could taste the stuff, which
	didn't taste that great.
			-Dave Borman
			ihnss!ihnp4!stolaf!borman