To have fed her DC unwashed strawberries?

[brilliantdances]

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

How rude of your neighbour.

I do wash strawberries but I wouldn't worry if it didn't happen on a picnic. When I was a child we used to PYO on a local farm. We ate a few whilst collecting our punnet and I survived.

I take it you won't be helping out your neighbour in future. Perhaps you can remind her children and adults have a tetanus for a reason.

Milton is find to ingest anyway

You ingest away 🤢

I’ll take my chances

I think I’d rather take my chances of a slow painful death than do that every week

Bugger, no quote.

Mass cleaning of fruit and veg, with individual attention.

Yeah sounds like a right faff all that washing

@3Britnee

Milton is find to ingest anyway. I've just googled incase I was wrong and you can put it in water to make it safe to drink and you can even use it as a mouthwash.

I know what I'd rather have all over my fruit or veg.

Milton is sodium hypochlorite AKA bleach.

Use of sodium hypochlorite in food processing/preparation actually increases the risk of anti microbial resistant infections over time as you essentially kill off all but the resistant bacteria, which then reproduce. Increasing the risks of anti microbial resistant infections AKA 'superbugs'

Weird isn't it how it's the germophobes who are actually contributing to the problem of anti microbial resistance and pathogenic infection

I've only washed strawberries in restaurant kitchens

Not at home they can and tend to go all mushy when washed

I'm not a germophobe, by any means. I reuse towels and don't always get round to changing the bed every week. I just don't fancy eating dirt or shit.

I reuse towels

honestly this is not the mark of ‘relaxed’… unless you sanitary towels?

😂 I do have cloth ones.

But I meant I'm not one of these anal MN'ers that has to boilwash everything after every glance. My house isn't pristine or spotless. My cleaning can be lax. I'm not obsessive about cleaning. I eat stuff past its date using my common sense.

But I'm not going to eat things other people have touched or coughed over without washing it. You wouldn't eat food brought out with the waiters thumbs all over it, so its the same principle but worse because produce could have shit on it

The thing I don't understand about washing fruit is that we just rinse them in water. If we've learned nothing from COVID it's that you have to wash things in soapy water for the magic 20 seconds (or happy birthday x 2 if you prefer) to get rid of a virus. So really what difference does it make.

Let her stew.

YANBU

@Foxhasbigsocks

I wouldn’t have said anything to you but yabu. All fruit and veg should be washed or peeled before eating. Your kid your rules, but I would be cross if a friend did this with my kids

Nonsense. In 60 years I have never washed or peeled fruit and veg unless obviously filthy or with inedible peel. Last time I was sick (throat infection) was 15 years ago

"Hi Neighbour, oh wow, don't worry it won't be happening again. We obviously parent differently & as such I'm clearly not a suitable minder for your DC, have a pleasant evening/day"

Her DC clearly wasn't harmed, you did her a favour, it wasn't a huge deal, so tbh she was a bit of an entitled cow to bring it up

& I would wash the strawberries out of habit, but would happily let DC eat as they come, they are hardly swimming in sewerage

Whilst I would always wash strawberries I wouldn't get worked up over a single episode of a few unwashed ones. No fruit grower would spray them with anything poisonous.

OP my SIL used to be like this. Made me wash all fruit and veg in 'food detergent' (wash w detergent then rinse w vinegar then rinse again) even if I was peeling and/or cooking them.

Then she got a full time job and had 2 kids and now she's a slattern like me .

YANBU. I wash all fruit but would not even bat an eyelid if someone had kindly looked after my DC and given them unwashed fruit. Jaysus what a cheek to send you that message!

@brilliantdances
Did you reply OP?

3britnee, why would strawberries have shit on them?

Nah I don't wash strawberries. Happy to report DC and I are perfectly fine.

This gave me a flashback to the early 1950s! My mum took me to visit a neighbour, who kindly offered me a tomato from the greenhouse. I looked at it suspiciously and asked if it had been washed. Mum was MORTIFIED at my saying that, and told the neighbour "Oh, I'm so sorry, but she worries about catching polio"

I was about 3 or 4, so presumably got my polio fear from Mum...Indeed she was an avid fruit-washer, but presumably didn't want the neighbour to know! For her, polio was a genuine worry but she didn't want to offend the neighbour by admitting it. I suppose most people worry about causing offence, your neighbour is an exception!

@Macncheeseballs

3britnee, why would strawberries have shit on them?

Because they sometimes use cow shit as fertilizers.

When my DD was a toddler, I'd buy her a punnet of grapes from the fruit and veg stall in the market and she'd chomp her way through them as I pushed her round in her buggy. I didnt wash them and I didn't cut them up (in my defence, this wasn't really a thing back then)

Never washed any fruit, and never been ill as a result of it. Haven’t had even a mild tummy bug for at least forty years, kids never had one. Funnily enough my neighbour when I was growing up told me you can catch polio from unwashed fruit when she caught me eating blackberries I had picked from our garden. Was that really a thing? I had no idea that was even possible.

Porcupine, so all those pick your own strawberries farms are actually letting kids eat shit covered strawberries?

Lots of farms use manure as fertiliser on all sorts of produce. A quick rinse under the tap isn't really going make much difference though.