In digging up what's behind the recent E. coli scare with organic spinach, a disturbing feature in USA Today describes how leafy greens are cleaned before you buy them at the grocery store.

"Triple washing" (which includes two washes with chlorine) is only intended to prevent the spread of bacteria, not to "surface-sanitize" produce. It is no guarantee that your produce will be bacteria-free. And if it's no guarantee, why on earth would you want to drink or possibly eat chlorine?

Research now confirms that cancer-causing agents are created when disinfectant chemicals like chlorine come in contact with organic materials already in water, among them trihalomethanes. Is this really something you want to be putting in your body?

More interesting factoids about the produce you buy at the grocery store and chlorine:

• Commercial sprouts, apples, melons and tomatoes are washed with chlorinated water too.
• Fifteen to 20 ppm of free chlorine is considered the typical amount experts say is needed to kill bacteria.

A better option is to locate fruits and vegetables that are grown locally by people you know. While this may be a challenge it is clearly worth the effort and will go a long way toward stopping the factory-farming methods that have been pervasive in producing much of our food.

You can review this recent checklist of sources to help you locate organic farmers in your area.