Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Jed Boal ReportingThe spinach scare poses problems for some restaurants and a dietary dilemma for all of us trying to eat more green, leafy vegetables.
Remember: cooked spinach and frozen spinach are okay. Otherwise, there's still plenty of dark green on the grocer's shelves.
When growers started washing and bagging spinach, it became convenient and found its way into the mainstream American diet. We ate what was good for us because it was easy.
David Bench, Lion House Chef: "They said it's not safe, so we just eliminate it from any of the menu items. Cooked, raw whatever, we don't have it on."
Their spinach crepe? Pineapple this week. Their spring mix usually has spinach, but not right now.
David Bench, Lion House Chef: "You know there's so many greens out there. There's so many different salads you can do that you can fill in with something just as good."
You won't find a fresh spinach salad at any of the restaurants we talked to today, but some are using frozen spinach in their house recipes.
We went to a national chain and bought an assortment of greens. Registered Dietician Beverly Hyatt says these are all good sources of the nutrients we need from green, leafy vegetables.
Beverly Hyatt, RD, Health Education and Promotion, Salt Lake Valley Health Dept.: "The more pigment that's there, the more nutrients that are there. You can tell by looking at it, the darker it is, the more packed with nutrition it is."
Kale, collard, mustard and turnip greens, red chard, or Swiss chard, and green and red cabbage.
Beverly Hyatt: "Everyone could stand to increase the number of fruits and vegetables, especially the dark leafy green ones."
The dietician fears we will skip greens altogether if we have to cut them ourselves.
Beverly Hyatt: "That's a shame. If it's a little more effort, it's worth the effort."
Specialty stores, locally-owned markets and farmers market will have even more options.
