Since our young days as kids, we have been told that vegetables are healthy and that we should eat them. Then, we were told that raw vegetables are even better because they have more fibre and also cooking them will lead to destruction of some vital nutrients. Thanks to all this, now we have a wide range of salad recipes floating on the Internet and elsewhere! But can these supposedly healthy veggies turn out to be quite unhealthy? Yes say scientists from Indian Institute of Technology, Dhanbad! In a recent study, they examined various vegetables used in making a salad, to assess the presence of disease causing microbes on its surface. The researchers selected 8 different vegetables from the local Dhanbad market, commonly used in many of our dishes, and conducted detailed study of vegetables, looking for yeast, mold and other pathogenic substances found on the surface. To their surprise, the researchers noticed microbes on every sample of vegetable that was tested. The researchers found pathogenic microorganisms, like E. coli, monocytogenes and Salmonella. Luckily, cabbages were mostly found free of microbes whereas spinach showed the presence of the bacteria, Exiguobacterium. The study reveals a shocking result, reminding us of the importance of cleaning vegetables and fruits before cooking or eating. Although all the microbes found on the vegetables are not necessarily contagious or harmful, in the case of consuming microbes with your vegetables, precaution is better than a cure.