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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To have fed her DC unwashed strawberries?

667 replies

brilliantdances · 12/07/2021 17:19

Neighbour will probably see this. Not sure I care. Perhaps she will see how silly she is!

She was desperate for someone to have her DD and I said I would, no worries, all fine.

Her DD shared a box of strawberries with DS today and long story short, she's picked her DC and her DC has told her this.

I have received a text saying ''Hi, thanks again for having Kate. Please can I ask though, next time wash the strawberries before giving them to her? They are dangerous if not washed properly and she could become so unwell. Would you really want that?''

I haven't replied and won't be. AIBU to have not washed them?! Would if I was at home but it was actually just a quick snack shared out

OP posts:
hermitzero · 12/07/2021 23:24

I'm not sure if this applies to all strawberries but on the packaging, it says "Wash before use". I always rinse strawberries before I eat.

MaryLennoxsScowl · 12/07/2021 23:38

I used to work on a strawberry farm. Wash your strawberries. And to those saying positively that farms wash strawberries before they get to the supermarket - ha ha ha, nope.
I would eat a strawberry off a plant in my garden (sunlight kills germs), but never ever from a supermarket punnet, sprayed with pesticides, picked by a picker who hasn’t washed their hands (they get paid by the punnet, not by the hour, the toilets are very far from the fields so they pee in the fields), and then stored in a supermarket warehouse with rats in a punnet with holes in.

Moonlaserbearwolf · 13/07/2021 00:18

Crazy lady! I always wash strawberries and other fruit (except for the odd occasion when like you we might eat some before we reach a tap), but would never dream of writing a text like that to someone. A few unwashed strawberries won’t be the worst thing her child has eaten. By a long way.

mogsrus · 13/07/2021 00:23

bit paranoid,as a kid I ate apples straight off a tree,blackberries tomatoes raspberries whilst being picked,anything including raw meat,never did me any harm whatsoever,it's how the body learns,absolute paranoid now

Thekindofwindowsfaceslookinat · 13/07/2021 00:25

but a little perspective would tell you that across a lifetime a couple of punnets of unwashed berries are hardly the worst thing your body is going to have to deal with

I don't think anyone has suggested that.

However, reducing exposure to herbicide and pesticide residue is a really good idea, and that's made up of a thousand or so active choices across a lifetime.

Sailorsgirl44 · 13/07/2021 01:01

She was very rude to send that message.. It was designed to make you feel guilty.

I never wash fruit or veg.. And I've never had food poisoning. Perhaps I'm just lucky.

I would question how much of a difference a quick rinse under the tap would make anyway?

PrincessNutella · 13/07/2021 01:19

If they came from my garden, I would not hesitate, if they come from the supermarket, they are filthy.

PrincessNutella · 13/07/2021 01:23

Strawberries are the most pesticide-ridden of all British fruits. wickedleeks.riverford.co.uk/news/health-farming/strawberries-top-dirty-dozen-pesticide-list

2bazookas · 13/07/2021 01:42

@Mummadeze

Sorry, but I agree you should wash them before eating. She doesn’t sound like she told you in a rude way. It is obviously important to her, even if it isn’t to you.
"My house/car/care, my rules" has always applied to all kids who got dumped on me .
PyongyangKipperbang · 13/07/2021 01:45

Oh FFS.....and I just bet that this is the kid that picks up every single bug going thereby fuelling her mothers paranoia which leads to every item in the house being bleached, which further lowers the DD's natural immunity which leads her to pickng up more bugs and so on ad infinitum.

When my sister was about 4 she and her best friend ate some cat food as a sort of "I will if you will" two way dare. BF's mother went into orbit when she found out and really gave out to my "neglectful" mother, although she did calm down when she realised that my mother hadnt known about it either, they had pinched it from NDN's outdoor cat bowl (vom!) BF's DM was paranoid about germs/illness etc (this was in the 80's when it wasnt as common as now) and commented months later that she was surprised that her normally sickly DD hadnt had a sniffle for ages. My mother, sharp as a tack, said "Oh neither has our DD, there must be something good in that cat food" :o

PrincessNutella · 13/07/2021 01:50

I am a little surprised that people are bragging about not washing any fruit or vegetables. That is seriously disgusting. Please tell me this is not common in the UK.

PyongyangKipperbang · 13/07/2021 01:54

@PrincessNutella

I am a little surprised that people are bragging about not washing any fruit or vegetables. That is seriously disgusting. Please tell me this is not common in the UK.
Why is it disgusting? What do you think is on them?

And are you in the UK?

PyongyangKipperbang · 13/07/2021 01:54

For some reason I am thinking about Mince Rinsing....

lolacola77 · 13/07/2021 02:00

Ignore. And ignore the next time the cheeky bitch wants a favour. I'd be furious. What an arse!

beentoldcomputersaysno · 13/07/2021 02:05

I don't bother unless giving to guests. I wouldn't have thought about washing them as a car snack. If I got the text I'd have probably felt guilty actually and just washed them next time - no big deal to wash them and it's clearly important enough to her to mention.

Mandalay246 · 13/07/2021 02:19

I am a little surprised that people are bragging about not washing any fruit or vegetables. That is seriously disgusting. Please tell me this is not common in the UK.

Oh for goodness sakes! What is so "seriously disgusting" about it?

1forAll74 · 13/07/2021 02:25

A adults and children, young and older, used to go strawberry picking in the farmers fields years ago,and everyone use to eat a few whilst picking them. Who knows how many bugs and germs and field mice dropping,and bits of straw we consumed, !!

MayLeaveADentInYourSofa · 13/07/2021 02:44

I can understand her not being happy if she is in the washing fruit camp but she managed it so bloody rudely when you had just done her a favour.

DukeofEarlGrey · 13/07/2021 02:51

I’m generally relaxed about germs, but do wash fruit and veg pretty consistently since Covid began. I thought it was meant to be more important to wash soft fruits because they can absorb pesticides, germs etc. more easily. Admittedly I hadn’t thought through the effectiveness of this as others have.

Either way, if she thought it was necessary to say it she should have been more polite. You were kind to look after her little girl and it’s sweet that she was excited about the shared strawberries in the car!

user1478172746 · 13/07/2021 03:19

I became sick and was taken to the hospital as a child after eating one unwashed store apple.

aloris · 13/07/2021 03:40

Next time you do me a massive favor when I have an emergency, make sure you provide a more perfect service! Otherwise I might not ask you for massive favors again!

lovablequalities · 13/07/2021 05:05

I had a check out lady tell me off for letting my dc have a (paid for!) grape from the bag while I was packing up the shopping. It was very embarrassing.

ElderMillennial · 13/07/2021 05:09

I don't think it's that odd. I wash fruit before we eat it.

Mandalay246 · 13/07/2021 05:19

I had a check out lady tell me off for letting my dc have a (paid for!) grape from the bag while I was packing up the shopping. It was very embarrassing.

Why was it embarrassing? Your grape, you can do what you like with it. She would have been the one feeling embarrassed if she had done that to me.

supersonicginandtonic · 13/07/2021 05:32

I wish I had time to spend all thus time washing strawberries and apples etc. But then again I'm not that precious. Also my kids hardly ever get poorly. I grew up eating things straight from fields, just like my mums family did. Never became ill because of it.
I'd teLl the ungrateful 🐮 to do one and not do her a favour ever again.