A while back, my sister saw me washing my "triple rinsed" organic spring mix and exclaimed, "you ARE supposed to wash them even though they're rinsed, right? 'Jane' [some friend] yelled at me for washing my pre-washed veggies!" There are 2 things to consider here: One: Many incidences of food borne illnesses have been reported even here in the U.S. We often mistaken our technologically advanced society to be clean and free of infectives often found in lesser developed countries. However, it's true. Many of my clients have had parasites, flukes, and bacteria from a less-than-clean meal. It took a lot of knowledge to really understand how badly these critters can harm us. I'm not talking about mile long worms (did you hear about the guinea worms on NPR today?) but improper hygiene leads fecal to food contamination of many many (sometime antibiotic resistant) bugs to make our insides their home.