February 23, 2009 "It's a kitchen degreaser. It's a window cleaner. It kills athlete's foot. Oh, and you can drink it. Sounds like the old "Saturday Night Live" gag for Shimmer, the faux floor polish plugged by Gilda Radner. But the elixir is real. It has been approved by U.S. regulators. And it's starting to replace the toxic chemicals Americans use at home and on the job. The stuff is a simple mixture of table salt and tap water whose ions have been scrambled with an electric current. Researchers have dubbed it electrolyzed water -- hardly as catchy as Mr. Clean. But at the Sheraton Delfina in Santa Monica, some hotel workers are calling it el liquido milagroso -- the miracle liquid."
"You might think that 'pre washed' and 'triple-washed' salad greens sold in plastic clamshells or bags are squeaky clean. But our recent tests found room for improvement."
"Over the past few years, the public has been bombarded with advice on healthy eating in lifestyle features on television, radio and in the magazines and newspapers. Government health agencies and school catering services have also started to focus on the same topics, encouraging the consumption of more fruit, vegetables and salads. But whilst this has been happening there has been a parallel bombardment regarding poor hygiene, food scares and the hazards of chemical residues in these self-same healthy foods. Reported food-poisoning incidents in the UK are now of the order of 50,000 per annum while the Food Safety Agency estimates the real figures to be over 4 million per annum. The Consumers Association, whilst surveying the microbiological safety of the British sandwich found that 1 in 6 of those tested, contained food poisoning bacteria and went on to discover both pathogens and indicator bacteria in a survey of salad bars. These figures fuel public anxiety."
M.A. Deza, M. Araujo and M.J. Garrido Institute of Food Research and Analysis, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain 2003/0553: received 24 June 2003, revised 22 September 2003 and accepted 30 September 2003