Washing vegetables AIBU to ask what's normal

The worms that your sister observed are likely to have been thread worms, which are usually transmitted by ingesting their microscopic eggs. Typically, these women will have caught the worms from their older children (thread worms are very common in children, including - gasp -non-British children). It might not be a pleasant thought, but they're harmless and many people, maybe even you, have them without realising.

You can also obtain worms from unwashed fruit and veg, but this is unusual in Britain. This route of transmission is more common in countries without modern toilets and sewage treatment facilities.

Superiority! I've been in parts of the world I would want fruit nuking before eating it but I'm not allowed to say where!

I don't wash druit & veg unless noticably muddy or gritty
I don't rinse dishes after washing them in soapy water
I don't wash newly purchased bedsheets
I don't wash newly purchased underwear before wearing it

And I'm not even British😅

I wash salad leaves and dry them in a salad spinner, or a clean tea towel. I rinse cut leeks to remove grit and I scrub (or peel) hard root veg to remove mud; generally soak cauliflowers in salted water in case of slugs. Rarely do more and never wash soft fruit.

As do I. It would appear that a surprising (to me) number of people think that’s an unnecessary step. And will, no doubt, shortly be along to say they’re 65, have never rinsed a dish in their life and have never got sick, so it’s clearly pointless.

In the past, we would get the majority of our Vit B12 via soil consumed with vegetables (and through infrequent meat). Now we have to get it through animal products - but they are also raised in such sterile (indoor) environments that their feed is usually supplemented with B12. It feels like the opposite of progress.

I get organic fruit and veg and grass-fed meat (for family) and only wash f&v if visibly dirty. No allergies, no food intolerances, no illnesses. If by chance I get non-organic fruit like strawberries I DO wash as herbicide/pesticide remnants are much more of a problem than bacteria. The hygiene hypothesis is real, whatever a sniffy Dutch person may think. And fyi - Dutch meat/dairy was historically full of antibiotics (aka growth promoters) which is why they are tall.

Someone asked about leaks - slice the root section off and the tops of any scraggy leaves you don't want to eat, the slice the leek halfway through lengthwise and run under running water, fanning it out to remove the grit.

Yeah I agree, probably not enough although I am sceptical of the products sold to clean them also - surely they just add more chemicals? I would imagine it's like washing your hands, we all know that you should be singing happy birthday X2 but do we do it perfectly every time?

@ Zebra.....
So why would they be wiping them off the babies head?

I imagine the majority of vegetable 'washing' that goes on is nothing more than a perfunctory rinse under the tap, which is unlikely to do a great deal!

Erm, thought it was obvious its wasn’t via the birth canal. Some women pass stool while they’re delivering their babies vaginally. That’s how……

You can definitely catch illnesses from unwashed food. For example ecoli outbreaks happen from veg. You are also washing off residual germs that may come from human intervention in the production process. These are just some examples.
If you personally never wash your fruit/veg then it's possible you've built up a resistance to certain germs but it definitely bare minimum should be washed in water.

I always rinse dishes.

I wash everything that isn't peeled for pesticide/fungicide residues other people handling them and also for dirt, mostly things don't look dirty. I'm less concerned about veg and fruit out of the garden, we don't use a lot of chemicals, but they usually still get a rinse. Veg from the garden does get attacked by insects etc, so a soak in salt water if necessary to remove them.

I don't scrub anything other than muddy veg but will rinse everything I'm not peeling the skin from. I don't buy organic so no doubt am eating all sorts of pesticides but giving everything a little rinse and leaving it to dry barely takes any time and will get the chlorine off salad leaves etc.

There are all sorts of step between field and plate and I'm sure not all of them are stellar on their hygiene.

Nope

washing up bowls of soapy water where nothing is ever rinsed

Yes, that’s another cultural habit that I don’t really understand. But saying that is apparently a declaration of war. 🤣

There wasn’t any furore. People just didn’t agree with you that it was a nasty comment. Likening it to saying people shouldn’t have children or diagnosing them with personality disorders is rather bizarre.

There was nothing snide or covert about my comment. If anything, as has been stated and acknowledged, it was extremely blunt. ‘Suppressed bitter hostility’, you say? 🤣

Based on this comment, you (you, personally, not the nation, for the sake of clarity) appear to be given to dramatic overstatement.

It didn't take long did it?

No! My thought is that if they come in the packet, it's unlikely that somebody has had their grubby mitts all over them. If I was buying individual knickers that weren't in a plastic packet, perhaps but then again maybe not.

Typing it out makes me think I perhaps should.

I eat a lot of fruit and veg. Don't wash anything.

🙄

This is the kind of behaviour I am referring to. 😂

I could never ever put bed sheets on my bed that weren't washed.

I assume you wash underwear though?

I lived in far east for a time in 70s. (Service family) We were advised to wash all salad/veg in milton solution then rinse with cold boiled water before eating. Reason given was that produce was thought to be grown with human faeces as fertilizer never knew if this was true.

Ditto the clothes and bedsheets.

It is an observation though, why be so defensive?

I live in Europe but am British. I observe all sorts..

When I visit the UK I do see some odd things, including not washing fruit or veg, animals all over the furniture, and washing up bowls of soapy water where nothing is ever rinsed. It amuses me.

But then I am someone who generally lets people wear shoes in my home. 😳