Newsworthy Clips (2/3)
Update your vocabulary with news clips from around the world

Bacteria may not come out in the wash
     The serious dirt on produce is not the kind you can see. Those ready-to-eat bags of leafy vegetables in grocery stores may boast that they've been "thoroughly" or "triple" washed, but that's no guarantee they're free of bacteria. Last year's E. coli outbreak in the United States has forced many consumers to reconsider the safety of packaged greens.
     The $4 billion packaged lettuce and spinach industry has safety measures . But the standard process-washing lettuce and spinach with chlorinated water-kills just 90 percent to 99 percent of microbes, which include bacteria. And that's only if the process is done well, which government inspection records show is not always the case.
     Growers and processors pointed to their triple-wash procedures when the outbreak became a widespread news story. Produce was recalled, and consumers were warned to abstain from fresh spinach. What was largely left unsaid was that the triple washing of greens in the factory is intended to help prevent bacteria from spreading and "NOT to surface sanitize produce," claimed a recent industry report.
     In fact, there's no "effective kill step" for leafy greens that would not damage them so much that they'd no longer be fresh, says Trevor Suslow, research specialist at the University of California.
    The industry maintains that the packaged product is safe to eat straight from the bag, even given the limits of triple washing. "There is no kill step, but we have many food safety practices in place," says Tanios Viviani, president of salad maker Fresh Express.
     Christine Bruhn, director of the Center for Consumer Research at the University of California, says "the bagged product is safer" than its home-washed, unpackaged counterpart . She adds that there is always a risk involved with raw lettuce or spinach. "But it is a small risk," she says. "The industry does a superb job of washing."

Vocabulary Focus
measure (n)--- a method for dealing with a situation
recall (v)--- to order the return to a company of products made by the company
abstain (v)--- to not do something, especially something enjoyable that you think might be bad for you
counterpart (n)--- a thing which has the same purpose as another similar one in a different place

Specialized Terms
  E.coli (n)--- 大肠杆菌 a bacterium that can exist in food which has not been cooked enough and cause serious illness or death
outbreak (n)--- 暴发 a sudden beginning of something, especially of a disease or something else dangerous
chlorinate (adj)--- 加氯消毒过的 having added chlorine, a greenish-yellow gas with a strong smell, which is put into water in order to kill organisms that might cause infection