I understand from Rabbi Ribbiat's 39 Melachos book that salting many kinds of vegetables including lettuce on Shabbos is a violation of a rabbinic ordinance related to curing/tanning/m'abaid. I further understand from that work that said ordinance was instituted when few alternatives existed for preserving food.
It is in the section on m'abaid (basically that entire section). There he explains that there is a principle of ayn m'abaid b'ochlin but that, since salting resembled curing, a fence was made. I am asking if any poskim consider the fact that since there is a possibility that the reason for this fence is no longer applicable there may be room to be lenient.
I would like to know if there are any poskim since the advent of ubiquitous refrigeration who have offered lenient rulings in terms of salting vegetables nowadays.