To not wash my fruit and veg before cooking/eating?

[AmserGwin]

Inspired by the bin thread. How many of you actually wash your fruit and/or veg before eating or cooking it? I never have, do people really do this?

GreatNorthen no I hadn't seen any of that, it's put me right out buying it, to be honest. Thought it was supposed to be ready to eat.

Would you eat a sandwich that has been laying in a field, sprayed up to 10 Times with toxic chemicals. Thrown in a trailer, chucked on a conveyor belt, handled by how many unwashed hands in a dirty packing shed. Driven hundreds of miles in the back of a dirty lorry, sprayed with preserving chemicals.Rats, mice, fly's, bugs, I don't think you would. Do I have to go on?.
If you are not pealing it then wash in warm water with detergent and rinse under the tap, is that really to much trouble.

Just looked and found this

And this

Would you still wash this?
Sorry can someone remind me how to type in Bold/highlight again please, I forget.

never wash.nor do i peel carrots unless having guests.

yes, I would wash it.

Wash everything except for bagged salad

Yes, I wash it. As others have pointed out, the washing of so called ready to eat bagged salad is in dilute bleach. I'd rather wash it again than eat traces of dilute bleach.

Wash everything especially bagged salad

Ok message received - will start washing 😬

As soon as we bring the shopping home all fruit and veg (even things like oranges, bananas etc) gets tipped into salad spinners filled with water and bicarbonate of soda and given a good clean. We buy all organic too. When it's clean and dry it goes in the fridge. So any fruit or veg in the fridge is clean. Easy

Gosh, this is a first. I'm being more hygienic than posters on here. Always wash fruit and veg. Thought of other grubby fingers on them and the chemicals sprayed on them makes me feel yuck. Though how a cold water spritz will help combat that, I don't know. Still here, anyway.

But what about eating fruit out? Don't you ever eat strawberries straight from the plant at pick your own? Or let kids eat blackberries off a bush? I figure an extra bug is just a bit more protein.

You should always wash fruit and veg, especially salad items as they are often sprayed with chemicals that do us no good to eat, apart from the fact that flies etc could have contaminated it during transportation. Simple washing will remove most of these hazards.

Oh forgot to say, no need with bagged salad, although if it's been opened in the fridge for a few days its always a good idea to rinse it under cold running water to get rid of bacteria that may have grown on it.

Non organic you need to wash pesticide chemicals off and dirt, organic you literally do have to wash the crap off. So yes, I wash in either scenario. You can get illnesses from the soil, can make you get an upset stomach, there can be ecoli, not to mention all the bugs and things crawling over it and pooping on it, but sure go ahead and not wash it

lentil even bananas and stuff? I'd have to wash 70-80 pieces of fruit a week (more if we had lots of berries etc)plus all of the veg it would take me ages to wash it in bi carb, rinse it and dry it all.

I wash all fruit and veg that will be eaten raw, to rinse off pesticides (not bothered about germs). I run under a cold tap. I once had a bad reaction to something on lettuce, and my mouth went numb for a couple of hours, and have always rinsed since then.

God this thread has really put the willies up me, I've never washed anything but might start putting my groceries in the dishwasher from now on.

Always wash everything. Just curious what does everyone use to clean their fruit and veg if using something other than water? Actual soap/fairy liquid or vinegar and water mixture?

For those giving a quick rinse in just cold water - aren't the chemicals designed to withstand rain etc?

For those washing in bicarb/vinegar/washing stuff - you know those are chemicals, right? Also, the produce will have the chemicals throughout the flesh, not just on the surface. We just accept that some chemicals are safe, but let's not forget they are still chemicals!

I can understand the idea of rinsing to get rid of visible dirt, which is obviously effective, but surely germs and chemicals will rarely be affected by a little bit of cold water (think hand washing advice - hot water and soap)?

I used to wash everything when DCs were small, but then once they started putting just about everything they could grab in their mouths, it kind of seemed a little pointles, tbh. We don't wash our hands every single time we put anything in our mouths, and although generally our hands are clean(ish!!), as soon as we touch anything that hasn't recently been anti-bac'd that goes right out of the window!

You'd drive yourself mad trying to eliminate every bug risk, but each to their own and carry on doing what you do, just try not to judge those that are a little different - remember, there's always someone far more thorough than you, judging you!

Yes always and especially if it's to be eaten raw or unpeeled.

If you buy from the supermarket it's been pawed over by people's dirty hands and I don't want their viruses and if it is organic there is a real risk of bacterial contamination and even organic can be sprayed with something I'd rather not eat.

We just accept that some chemicals are safe, but let's not forget they are still chemicals!

Eh? Are you assuming all chemicals are bad/similar? Table salt is a chemical. It has an E number as an additive and yet without a bit of it we would be ill... of course too much and we'll be ill.

Not all chemicals are bad. Chemical pesticides are not great. Surely nobody really thinks vinegar or sodium bicarbonate is the same as DDT.

You wash bananas in their skin and put them in the fridge? How very odd. How do they get ripe if left in the fridge? The only fruit I put in the fridge is soft fruit and grapes. Everything else is at room temperature so it can finish ripening. I do put pears in the fridge if I think they've ripened but I'm not going to eat them immediately. Of course, nine times out of ten when I do then eat them they're overripe. There seems to be a 15 minute window of optimal ripeness for pears.