‘I’ve been walking around thinking the exact opposite’: Grocery store customer shares trick to check if Taylor Farms packaged salad has gone bad

A Taylor Farms customer believes he knows a special trick that could help shoppers decipher between good and bad packaged salad. He shared the tip in a viral TikTok “Tip of the Day” video that has amassed over 608,000 views as of Friday morning.

The clip was uploaded by user Loraandkc (@loraandkc).

”There’s a little trick for determining if the salad is still good or not,” the man explained.

To demonstrate the trick, he held two different packages of salad as he spoke.

How to tell if packaged salad has gone bad

”If the bag is full of air, you know what’s going bad,” he continued. “If the bag is flat, you know what’s good.”

The simple trick was celebrated in the comments section.

Some TikTokers even made up catchy, rhyming sentences to remember the rule.

“If it has air, leave it there,” one user wrote. “If it’s flat, run with that.”

“Full of air what a scare,” user @C chimed in. “Bag is flat is where it’s at.”

Others said they rely on simply checking out the produce through the packaging.

”And here I am looking brown spots through the bag,” user @Ryan Hunter wrote.

”I look thru the plastic for any brown lettuce or wilted green pieces,” user @Paylevampyr commented.

The TikTokers who rely on checking out the salad and not the puffiness of its bag may be more likely to get the freshest salad, turns out. And the expiration date, according to multiple reports, remains the best freshness indicator.

Does the trick work?

According to a USA Today, the claim, which in recent months has also been made on Facebook and Reddit that you can tell the freshness of a salad by its bag, is a myth.

“It’s true that lettuce gives off gas after it is packaged,” the article said. “However, that does not suggest that larger bags of lettuce are not fresh.”

As Delish writes: "As the lettuce ages, it emits gas, which puffs up the bag. While there is some truth to that theory, it was debunked by a few professionals. Lettuce definitely does give off gas after it's bagged, but it's also put into a plastic bag designed to modify the atmosphere within it. That packaging is aptly called Modified Atmosphere Packaging... and it can not only accommodate the gasses given off by the lettuce, but it's also meant to ensure they don't affect the atmosphere inside it enough to cause browning or spoilage."

As NPR reported in 2016, Americans are buying way more packaged salads than fresh vegetables these days. You're not alone. And it turns out the bags are strongly systematized and safe, per NPR's reporting: "[L]arge producers—such as Fresh Express, Taylor Farms and Earthbound Farms—process and ship their products to retail grocery chains and food service outlets with pretty impressive efficiency.

"For major supply chains, lettuce and leafy greens are harvested, cooled, and shipped within 24 [hours] or only slightly longer... Essentially, the plastic packaging is engineered in such a way that it 'breathes' but also maintains an atmosphere inside the package that will minimize browning and spoilage. Typically, that means a lower level of oxygen, and more carbon dioxide, than the natural atmosphere."

@loraandkc Did you know this trick? #grocerystore #tipsandtricks #pov #tipoftheday #howtotiktok ♬ original sound - Loraandkc

The Daily Dot reached out to Taylor Farms via email and user Loraandkc via TikTok comment and direct message.

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