The environmental and microbiological efficiency of vegetable cleaning

ABSTRACT Faced with the increase in water scarcity periods, the optimization of the use of this resource is increasingly necessary. This study aimed to evaluate the cleaning stage of Lactuca sativa for the preparation of meals outside the home with the participation of 9 restaurants using the Life Cycle Assessment tool, being later also extended to homes, with the participation of 8 households. The agricultural stage represented an average of 39.8% of all the impacts, the lettuce polypropylene wrap 14.4% and the transport stages 26.1%. The use of “blue” water ranged from 38 to 71 liters per kg of raw lettuce only in the cleaning stage, which represents 76% (households) and 77% (restaurants) of all the water used in the whole life cycle. In evaluations carried out, cleaning was considered efficient from the sanitary point of view, with 100% of the samples with Escherichia coli counts below the maximum allowed. The variability of the data obtained and the measured efficiency of sanitization, together, support the possibility of reducing the water consumption, mainly through training and awareness of the operators.