Washing fruit and veg.

M0nica

LtEve Working on the 'eating a peck of dirt before you die' assumption will have no effect on your likeliness to go down with food poisoning.

Food poisoning is almost always caused by bacteria in animal based foods, illnesses like salmonella, listeria, campylobacter and clostridium and are the result of mishandling of foodstuffs, almost always in catering establishments. Now hygiene rules in catering establishments are so strict there are far fewer cases and they are mainly in institutional settings.

It is over 50 years since I last had food poisoning, mainly because I am fussy where I eat out and, despite the fashion for serving meat 'pink' (raw red in most cases). I do not eat meat or fish anywhere that hasn't been fully cooked.

I am well aware of the causes of food poisoning but good gut health does help to support a healthy immune system and not being ‘too sterile’ has been shown to help with this.

Supermarket fruit and veg has always been OK, home grown is usually full of “livestock” so gets the full treatment, even so it always seems to taste better.

LtEve Working on the 'eating a peck of dirt before you die' assumption will have no effect on your likeliness to go down with food poisoning.

Food poisoning is almost always caused by bacteria in animal based foods, illnesses like salmonella, listeria, campylobacter and clostridium and are the result of mishandling of foodstuffs, almost always in catering establishments. Now hygiene rules in catering establishments are so strict there are far fewer cases and they are mainly in institutional settings.

It is over 50 years since I last had food poisoning, mainly because I am fussy where I eat out and, despite the fashion for serving meat 'pink' (raw red in most cases). I do not eat meat or fish anywhere that hasn't been fully cooked.

I've never had food poisoning, and, in fact, the only tummy bug I remember was Christmas Eve when I was 21. My children have never had a proper tummy bug, by which I mean 12-24 hours of vomiting and/or diarrhoea. I've always put it down to crawling round the floor with dogs and only really insisting on washing hands when visibly grubby or after the loo. Our house is clean, but the floors are only mopped once a week and I don't have separate chopping boards etc.

Another minimal washer here and the only case of food poisoning came from a cheap backstreet restaurant in Athens which meant a fortnight away from work. Like Franbern and others I subscribe to the theory of building up immunity to general bugs and have obviously been lucky.

Bleach is, of course, a caustic and damaging chemical.

A peck of dirt…
Like M0nica, I’ve only got food poisoning in a restaurant. If the label says something is washed, I believe them. Otherwise, a quick dunk. We didn’t do any of that bleach stuff either at the height of the pandemic.

I am the same Anneodonimi casual about washing food sums me up well, never had food poisoning or made anyone I’ll.

I must admit to being shockingly casual about washing vegetables. Having reached 81, perhaps I've just been lucky in never having had food poisoning!

I have only ever got food poisoning from restaurant meals. Never form any food prepared at home, neither has anyone else got food poisoning from food I have served them. Mostly food is well cooked before serving, and, as i have said, I do not think that cold water has any effect on removing pesticide or weedkiller residue.

Strawberries soaked in a solution of one part white vinegar to four parts water for 10 minutes, then drained and patted dry with kitchen towel will las much longer in your fridge. So that is worth doing,.

I use the pillow (pre-washed) bags of mixed lettuce leaves, Once opened, I put the rest into a clip& seal box lined with kitchen towel - like this in fridge vegetable drawer it lasts a week for me to use. Do same with small pre-washed bag of Spinach leaves. I do not wash them.

My 'fridge is one of the newer Harvest Fresh types, which has lights going into the veg box, which (the publicity claim) mimics the light in the fields and helps to keep everything fresh. Works for me, by myself and only doing a once-a-week shop of salads stuff.

The only time I can remember getting a bad bout of food poisoning from unwashed fruit as back in 1963. Five of us were on our way home from holiday in Skegness when the little Ford car broke down in the middle of nowhere. Whilst the tried (unsuccessfully) to fix it, my friend and I clambered into a nearby field and picked the lovely juicy blackberries there. I ate far more than anyone else, and by the time we did get back home, several hours later I was already feeling pretty ill. By the following day, was very poorly and GP thought it was some sort of poisoning from whatever chemicals had been used to spray those bushes.

Looking at the thread here, I am obviously very slovenly in my kitchen hygiene habits, and suppose that I have, therefore, built up an excellent tolerance in my own gut.

If it stays it is washed and ready to eat I believe them . Still here to tell the tale!

I grow my own salad leaves I had a nasty case of food poisoning from bagged salad leaves a while ago I now won’t touch them with a barge pole. Washing them in water will not necessarily kill bacteria present

growstuff

MayBee70

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.

Or you could grow your own salad leaves in summer. They're dead easy and you only need to pick what you want and they carry on growing.

I did grow it the year before last and, unlike the tomatoes I grew at the same time it was a great success. I did resolve to grow it again but seem to remember looking for cloches to grow it under because of slugs and also because the pigeons that live round my garden poo everywhere. It was surprisingly easy.

I rarely use ready prepared lettuce but would always wash it before use, bags have been known to also contain wildlife. We tend to think of salad leaves as a safe food but they can cause food poisoning like any other food.

When I lived in Hong Kong, as a child, all vegetables were soaked in a solution of water and a few grains of potassium permangenate.

The framers used to enrich their soil with 'night soil'. Human sewage collectd in buckets and used directly on the soil.

I did wash it. I dried it and added olives ,cherry toms and a sliced pink onion. Dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. One guest commented on how nice it was.

I'm a washer but in plain tap water. I've never used vinegar or bicarb. I do sometimes soak homegrown lettuce in salt water if I see a slug. I rinse it well in fresh water.

I wash anything shop bought that won't be peeled. The only thing I buy in the ready to use bags is water cress and I do wash it even though it says you don't have to.

I wash lettuce and all veg that I don't peel.

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MissChateline

I’ve never ever washed any fruit or vegetables. I remember pulling out home grown carrots and wiping the soil off on my trousers and eating them , grit and all. I really couldn’t understand all the washing in bleach during lockdown. It seemed like over the top madness to me. Then again, I’ve never been I’ll with anything. I believe that we need to build up natural resistance to bugs, germs and stuff.

Shame immunity to chemicals doesn't quite work like that!

I’ve never ever washed any fruit or vegetables. I remember pulling out home grown carrots and wiping the soil off on my trousers and eating them , grit and all. I really couldn’t understand all the washing in bleach during lockdown. It seemed like over the top madness to me. Then again, I’ve never been I’ll with anything. I believe that we need to build up natural resistance to bugs, germs and stuff.

And, yes, I wash them.

MayBee70

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.

Or you could grow your own salad leaves in summer. They're dead easy and you only need to pick what you want and they carry on growing.

I wash everything,too. Prewashed or not. It could be ‘washed’ in sewage water for all we know. Also there might be poisonous insecticide or goodness knows what on the stuff.