Research from the US suggests that even washing leafy vegetables with a chlorine solution is not enough to kill food-poisoning bacteria.

The research, carried out by the US Agricultural Research Service at Wyndmoor Pennsylvania, found that only radiation is successful at doing away with the dangerous bugs from the leaves of lettuce and spinach that they had artificially infected as part of their study.

While washing fresh produce before eating is known to reduce the risk of food poisoning, it appears that salmonella and e.coli bugs, for example .

But it is thought that harmful microbes, such as Salmonella and E.coli, can find shelter from water and chemicals by nestling into leaves and forming biofilms which stick to the surface of fresh produce.

“When bacteria are protected - whether they're inside a leaf or inside a biofilm - they're not going to be as easy to kill,” said study leader Dr Brendan Niemira.

His team investigated the effectiveness of conventional washing and chemical treatments and compared it to the use of irradiation.

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