Is It Safe To Eat Lettuce That's Turned Pink Or Slimy?

Vowing to eat healthier is a common way to kick off a new year. You might start by researching salad recipes and stocking up on lettuce and other greens. But after a few days in the fridge, your lettuce might not be looking so crisp. Maybe your romaine is showing some pinkness or redness on its leaves, or your arugula or mesclun is getting soggy or mushy.

This can leave you wondering: Do these changes mean your salad greens aren’t safe for consumption? Can you still eat those weird leaves?

“Lettuce is so thin and fragile,” explained Trevor Craig , a food safety expert and corporate director of technical training and consulting at Microbac Laboratories. “It breaks down easily and produces a lot of liquid.”

Still, he said, that doesn’t always mean the greens are unsafe to eat. You just might not want to. Mushy or discolored leaves can be unappetizing, and you may still worry about food safety, especially since salad greens are often linked to food recalls and outbreaks of foodborne illness .

To better understand the changes in salad greens, food safety and produce experts explain why they occur and how to know if your lettuce is still safe to eat.

Why does some lettuce turn pink?

The reddish-pink discoloration that can show up on romaine and iceberg lettuce is known as “rusting,” and it’s a natural post-harvest characteristic, Katie Sabatini , a registered dietitian and food safety and quality assurance manager at Little Leaf Farms, told HuffPost.

“The primary reasons behind this discoloration are due to improper handling and storage,” she said. “If the leaves are bruised or cut, or if the lettuce is stored with an excess of moisture, this can result in much faster development of rust on your leaves.”

Over time, as