Salad Bar "Safety"

[lhenkin]

I am wondering...on a typical salad bar, are these items likely to be Whole30 Compliant:

1. black olives?

2. sliced beets?

[Kirsteen]

Here in the UK sliced beets can be problematical. Here even in salad they're served cooked, usually with vinegar and often with sugar. I bought some cooked beets (without the vinegar) sliced them up and put them on my salad. One mouthful and I knew they tasted sweet (pre W30 I'd never have noticed) Sure enough, checked the label 'sugar'. that pesky stuff gets everywhere

In saying that, I don't know how they serve them in the States. Olives seem fairly safe though. I've never found any noncompliant ones.

[Derval]

Wow kirsteen, the vacuum packed ones? would never have suspected!

[Kirsteen]

Yes, Derval, they were from Marks & Spencer So there was me, very elegantly, hanging over the bin, spitting them out. What amazed me was that I could actually taste it, though. I'd had them often before and would never have dreamt there was sugar in them. I've checked in-store since and some of the packets of larger ones are ok. It was baby beets 'rosebud' I think, that had the sugar. Now I check everything

[Tom Denham]

Pickled beets often have some form of sweetener added. Manufactures do that to counteract the vinegar used in pickling. I used to enjoy pickled beets, but have not been able to find any in a jar that don't add sugar or high fructose corn syrup.

I buy canned plain beets all the time to use at home. The only brand my regular grocery stocks in cans is just beets, salt, and water. I probably would not worry about plain beets on a salad bar in the US, but the only way to know for sure would be to ask the restaurant to check the cans they come in to see how it is labeled. If the beets are pickled, they have a good chance of being non-compliant.

I have made my own pickled beets by soaking canned beets in a mixture of apple cider vinegar and apple juice.

[Laura B]

Olives can have a lot of preservatives in them. It is actually kind of difficult to find some that are really clean. The ones on the salad bar are probably from a can, which I have found aren't too terrible. During your W30 it is best to err on the side of safety and refrain from anything you are unsure of.