To wash my grapes and think it’s weird when people don’t??

[AliceRR]

Just that. I wash grapes quite thoroughly before I eat them. I take them off the stalks and rub a handful in my hands under the tap to clean them before I eat them.

I find just rinsing them under the tap to be insufficient.

And I know some people would just eat them without washing them at all, which I find odd and a bit gross.

I am pregnant now so extra careful but I have always tried to wash certain fruits and veg thoroughly anyway

I usually take what I'm eating by the stalk and run it under the tap. I wash all fruit and veg but I dont wash potatoes which some find strange

Why are you suspicious chicken could be use for arse wiping yet definitely not beef?

How bizarre

And yes I eat uncovered bakery food too

I like to live on the wild side

@thighofrelief ...

😆😂😆

Well I can't guarantee it never happens, but I can't see why people would do it!

Do YOU do it?! (Wipe your arse with chickens?!)

Never occurred to me that anyone wouldn't wash all fruit and veg properly before eating. Don't know where it's been.

I never wash grapes,🍇 but tbh I probably should. I saw a man putting his hands into bags of grapes in a big store some months back, and snapping 4 or 5 out of each bag (and then eating them!) VOM! 🤮

As a few posters have said, it's more of a concern who has been fingering them, than if there may be a bit of soil or dirt on there, or a little bug.

I am not super obsessive about stuff, and have picked something off the kitchen floor and ate it after dropping it (5 second rule! 😛) but yeah I think washing most fruit, and some veg is probably not a bad idea actually.

@Linoleumblownapart

I always wash fruit and veg, but I live in South America so I'd be an idiot if I didn't.

Oooh, that's exciting. Where abouts? And are you originally from there? or a Brit abroad. (Bit nosey sorry...

WOAH! I used a lot of emoticons in that post there. ^

I never used to wash grapes until one day i was happily eating a bunch and noticed a white cocoon type thing nestled in the middle, i only saw 1 tiny spider but it freaked me out

I wash all fruits and I wash pre-washed salad veg as well because I don't trust it!

thisneverendingsummer nope not from here. I live in the back of beyond in Brazil, hence the monkeys. DH is from here. I guess that makes me a Brit abroad

Yes, I wash all pre-washed salad too after I got my first and last bout of food poisoning from a bag of salad in 2001.

I wouldn't consider eating fruit without washing it first. It's grown in a field. Bugs, flies and spiders will have crawled all over it. People pick it with their hands. It's been in shopping containers and stored in factories. And in a shop where it's likely to have been touched by multiple people.

But people who don’t wash fruit and veg aren’t ill all the time. So surely there really isn’t any point?

I spent my late teens/early 20s working for the public analyst while they were starting to test for pesticide residues in products.... amazing quantities found
Always wash my grapes.

I need to find the other thread about uncovered bakery items...

and maybe find / start one about double-dipping?

😬

Piggery - I always think people have something they are more prone too. My immune system is shit, I'm immunosuppressed and was for 8 years before anyone spotted it
Yet I've never had food poisoning, never had any form of issue with food despite not washing fruit/veg. But on the other hand I had a chest infection or tonsillitis at least once a month, and I don't do mild tonsillitis, it's usually unable to swallow water type!
My friend has never had a chest infection but throws up at the mention of out of date food

I don’t wash bagged “ washed and ready to eat” salad though 🤔

Always wash mine. I know too many people who had got food poisoning from unwashed salad. The mud on potatoes and lettuce can contain listeria just as one example. The NHS issues guidance on how to wash it so it’s not shite.

www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/how-to-wash-fruit-and-vegetables/

People who don't clean their toilets presumably aren't ill all the time either. It's takes so little time and effort in this privilidged first world of ours to wash something that has been grown in the earth or a field and sprayed with fertilizer (you know where fertilizer comes from?) and pesticides and handled by umpteen hands before it gets to your plate. Why wouldn't you?

It's like saying I just can't be bothered to brush my teeth afaic.

I have never washed any fruit or veg before eating. Didn't wash them for my DDs when they were small either. I never get stomach upsets.

But if you don’t brush your teeth they go rotten and hurt. If you don’t wash fruit and veg ......? What exactly happens?

I’ve worked in fresh food areas and an unwashed grape should be the least of your worries if you ever eat out or eat anything ready made.

Washers- what do you think eashing in cold water achieves? It is highly ineffective at killing any germs. You may as well not bother! Cooking is your only safe bet.

If you compare unwashed with washed under a microscope you’ll not find any difference bacteria wise! You need bloody hot water to achieve anything.

The only grapes i wash are my bum grapes.

I'll wash F&V if it is obviously skanky looking, but otherwise not.

I grew up with dogs. I have a dog now. We are never sick.

You may as well not bother!

It takes just one minute to be clean so why not? I’d rather not eat mud, which washing does remove.

I am very unfussy about 'germs' in most circumstances but always wash fruit and veg.

This is mainly due to having worked on quite a few small scale veg farms (selling to supermarkets and also direct sales like farmers' markets etc). I have seen how many hands have touched the fruit and veg before it ends up on the shelf/market stall and can say for sure that not everyone handling them has exemplary personal hygiene.

My partner (who has never worked on a farm) thinks I'm just being precious.

Thighofrelief-are we talking oven ready or unplucked?