If six insects are found in one head of lettuce, it is not recommended to use that head.
Many bugs can be removed with a good rinse. Inspect: After rinsing, check for any remaining bugs or signs of damage. If the lettuce looks healthy and is just dirty, it's likely safe to eat. Trim if Necessary: If there are only a few bugs or some damaged leaves, you can trim those parts away.
If insects or slugs ate the veggies, they are generally safe to eat. You could cut the damaged parts off. However, if rabbits or deer or some other animal created the holes, it is probably not safe to eat them These animals often carry diseases.
Put the lettuce in a bowl or in your sink, cover it with water so it's completely submerged, and add a couple splashes of vinegar. Let it soak for 10/15 minutes/up to half an hour and it should be bug free.
If a single fly has brief contact on freshly cooked food, then most health experts would say it's not a big deal and there's no need to chuck the food. However, if a swarm of flies has been feasting on your meal for hours, then it's best to use your common sense and discard the food.
Are Aphids Dangerous? To humans, no, not directly. But aphids can be quite damaging to plants, such as crops, which means they can destroy our farms, trees, and gardens if left unchecked.
Inspection: Check both sides of each and every leaf on a light box for insects. Care must be taken to unfold and open all cracks and crevices. Special focus should be applied to determine the presence of leaf miners.
Hand-wipe to help control small, localized infestations. Wash aphids from plants with a strong stream of water. This may be ineffective on the low, dense foliage of lettuce. Control honeydew-feeding ants.
People can be infected when they deliberately or accidentally eat a raw snail or slug that contains the lung worm larvae or if they eat unwashed lettuce or other raw leafy vegetables that have been contaminated by the slime of infected snails or slugs.
The dark orange spots on your greens may raise alarm bells, but that doesn't mean you have to avoid them. Lettuce with russet spotting is completely safe to eat.
Mild scabby browning on the outside of many vegetables can be caused by weather damage or insect feeding. If the damage only affects the outer skin and does not penetrate into the vege- table's flesh, the produce can be used. However, the affected area should be removed before the vegetable is consumed.
If you are pretty sure the holes in your leafy vegetables were caused by insects or slugs, they should be safe to eat, as long as you wash them thoroughly, and remove any damaged portions. However, if mammals have been through your garden, you should avoid damaged greens.
Soak Your Produce in Salt Water
Mix together 1 part salt and 9 parts water in a clean bowl or sanitized sink. Then add the fruits and vegetables you want to clean. Let the produce soak for 20 to 30 minutes. Doing this will help remove most of the pesticides, and has been shown to draw out bugs as well.
Since romaine lettuce grows open, it is much more prone to insect infestation throughout the head than other varieties of lettuce that primarily grow as a closed ball. The insects most commonly found in open leaf lettuce are small black or green aphids and thrips.
Aphids can be washed off of harvested leaves with running water or by submerging harvested crops in soapy water and then rinsing with clean water. Vegetables that aphids have fed upon are safe to eat and if you don't get every single aphid off don't worry — they will just add a little protein to your meal!
Use the organic pesticide, BTK (bacillus thuringiensis Kurstaki). BTK is a naturally occuring microorganism that sickens and kills caterpillars without harming butterflies, bees, and other beneficial insects.
Check the leaves for signs of wilting.
Fresh lettuce is firm and crisp. As lettuce ages, it becomes soft, droopy, and wrinkled. You can spot these changes by eye or by touching the leaves. These leaves may not yet feel wet, but the lettuce is still near spoiling when it begins to wilt.
Caterpillars that attack the fall crop are usually the most troublesome field pests of lettuce. In the greenhouse, aphid and cabbage looper infestations often cause problems. Cutworms, whiteflies, leafminers, and slugs are slightly less important greenhouse pests.
"Some people don't get sick at all, and others may have mild to severe gastrointestinal symptoms like vomiting and diarrhea," he says. "In rare cases, some people may become seriously ill." But most cases of lettuce-induced food borne illness resolve themselves in a matter of days.
Remove aphids by hand by spraying water or knocking them into a bucket of soapy water. Control with natural or organic sprays like a soap-and-water mixture, neem oil, or essential oils. Employ natural predators like ladybugs, green lacewings, and birds.
Most plants can tolerate low to moderate numbers of aphids without noticeable damage. On some plants, however, large numbers of aphids can distort foliage and flowers and stunt plant growth. Some species of aphids can also transmit plant diseases when they puncture plant tissues to feed.