Washing fruit and veg.

Callistemon21

MayBee70

It’s worth doing everything to avoid catching some things especially salmonella and E. coli. Which people can catch from lettuce.

That's if prepared salads have been washed in contaminated water.

Buy a proper lettuce, not the pre-washed bagged stuff.

That’s what I’ve been doing recently as part of my zero waste policy as I often end up throwing away some of the bagged salad. But I’ve just freaked myself out by reading up on cases of food poisoning from eating Romaine lettuce which is the one I like best.

I don’t wash packs of salad leaves if they’ve been pre-washed - isn’t that the point of buying it? I do wash all other fruits and salad stuff though.

This thread has reminded me about the time when, about 10 years ago, DH took me out for lunch and I’d ordered the gammon, which came with salad. Lovely bit of gammon too, though I had only eaten one bite of it before I saw a fat green caterpillar marching across my plate - I kid you not, it must have been the size of my little finger! ? I was absolutely horrified - and refused to eat anymore or to pay for it! DH carried on eating his pie and I had a bag of bacon crisps when we got home!
It put me off salad for months - so much so that I couldn’t even have a salad garnish in a sandwich for fear there was one lurking in there!
I can eat salad now though … but I still check before placing on a plate!

MayBee70

It’s worth doing everything to avoid catching some things especially salmonella and E. coli. Which people can catch from lettuce.

That's if prepared salads have been washed in contaminated water.

Buy a proper lettuce, not the pre-washed bagged stuff.

Yes, MOnica, I understand these poisons are absorbed into the veg and fruits. I keep hoping washing them removes 'the worst'.

I don’t wash prepared, ready to eat salads. I don’t rinse meat etc - my friend does, even if she’s going to make a curry. The meat is usually cooked to hell and back, when making a curry ! I rarely eat apples. Mangos and oranges are my fruits ……yes, I do rinse strawberries under the tap.
I’m with you Serendipity

Shirley Conran presumably didn’t have a vegetarian to cater for. Stuffed mushrooms come in very handy.

What was it Shirley Conrad said: lifes too short to stuff a mushroom
The same goes for washing a lettuce that’s been raised and packaged in super high clean polytunnels.

It’s worth doing everything to avoid catching some things especially salmonella and E. coli. Which people can catch from lettuce.

Luckygirl3

The trouble with reading Gransnet is that every day I am made aware of what a sloven I am!

I never wash anything that says washed a ready to eat.

You and me both! Either that or some people are verging on OCD...

Like others, I am not sure washing in cold water will wash off pesticide residues. I buy organic where I can, grow a lot myself and then just accept that a life free of risk is impossible.

The main reason I wash untreated fruit and veg is the pesticides they are doused in.

Not a washer either.

Germanshepherdsmum

It’s not so much the dirt as the chemicals used in the production of non-organic food.

I suspect that chemicals used in agriculture will be an intrinsic part of the product and washing them won’t get rid of that. That’s not to say I don’t wash things, but I’m under no illusion it rids the item of chemicals.

I always wash all fruit and vegetables, I got into the habit living abroad.

It’s not so much the dirt as the chemicals used in the production of non-organic food.

Ps, my mother had a saying, "a man has to eat a peck of dirt before he dies," so I've never worried about rinsing fruit and veg.

I only wash bell peppers if I've had to peel off a sticky label. I tend not to wash anything else. DH occasionally asks if I've washed the tomatoes, I've not killed any of us yet.

Heck ! I don't wash a thing...
I buy, i chop, throw in a pan, eat.

Salad, I don't wash that either.

Im still here !

When I worked in airport in flight catering we had to be very careful with the lettuce. It was washed in a big sink and I’m sure we added something to it. I got in such trouble one day wen I cut my finger and ruined a lot of lettuce. They were very careful with lettuce. I’m sure I read years ago that packets of ready washed lettuce were one of the biggest causes of food poisoning so I’ve been very careful with lettuce over the years.

Vinegar and bicarbonate are chemicals, too!

I don’t wash ready-prepared, either. When we lived in W Africa and Indonesia all raw f&v had to be prepared for eating by steeping in chlorinated water (I used Milton). The water wasn’t safe to drink, either.

It’s odd that something we think is so terrible in the developed world is something that saves lives in developing countries.

I gave up on ‘sterilising’ lettuce, though. After fifteen minutes (the mandated time) in chlorine water, it was just a soggy mess. I wasn’t going to spend £20 on an imported Iceberg lettuce so we just did without!

????

Charleygirl5

I would not wash a prepared salad because it has been washed but I would wash fruit or veg under a running tap because I do not know how many grubby hands have touched them and more importantly where those hands have been!

I agree with this. I could never put unwashed fruit or veg straight in my mouth whilst wondering who has been handling it. Not so bothered with broccoli which I just cut up, put in the saucepan and boil as that will kill anything. It even killed the caterpillar I found on my plate. That's another reason to wash leafy green salad and veg, there may be something wriggling around amongst the leaves.

I am constantly amazed that I have managed to live for so long. I eat a lot of salad, my main meal most days, never ever wash any of those 'pillow' packs of lettuce, etc. Nor cucumbers, sometimes remember to rinse peppers under tap, but not always.

I ca remember how horrified I was during the start of the Pandemic, when people seemed to be using an inordinate amount of bleach to wash their shopping - and washing down and isolating for days any package delivered to them. I did none of that. I am concerned as to the amount of bleach going into our waterways.

No wonder there are so many real and imagined food tolerances and allergies around. This mania with over-cleanliness is not doing us any good. Our guts need to have chance to build up their own resistances slowly.

I would not wash a prepared salad because it has been washed but I would wash fruit or veg under a running tap because I do not know how many grubby hands have touched them and more importantly where those hands have been!

I'm not a washer either.