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

@Strawberryshitfest

But surely rinsing with water or even vinegar/Milton isn’t going to make any difference if the chemicals are so toxic that they soak into the fruit and then into the human body. If water could get rid of them then all the water in our bodies would get rid of them. I’d be surprised if there’s any less pesticide toxic residue on a washed strawberry than an unwashed one, I’d suggest that anyone who is worried buys organic.

👏🙌🤜🤛

If you're worried about pesticides then baking soda is what you need

Yes, helpful info - the baking soda is alkaline and alkalinity helps to remove residue.

My DH has questionable food hygiene standards about refrigeration, cooking times and use by dates (no I don't eat what he does!) but he is a real stickler for washing fruit, unwashed strawberries really wouldn't worry me.

Yikes the numbers of people on here who don't wash raw fruit/veg that's been grown outside in soil etc! With hygiene like this, no wonder Covid has been helped to spread...

Yikes the numbers of people on here who don't wash raw fruit/veg that's been grown outside in soil etc!

Where the hell else would it be grown?

Humans have been eating food that was grown outside in soil for thousands of years and yet we are all somehow still here.

I always wash strawberries but when someone is kind enough to look after my child I would let something like that go. She was being passive aggressive which really irritates me.

@SarahDarah

Yikes the numbers of people on here who don't wash raw fruit/veg that's been grown outside in soil etc! With hygiene like this, no wonder Covid has been helped to spread...

I'd love to know what else you think it should be grown in.

Milton is essentially bleach. I'll take my stawberries without thanks.

Exactly. Originally in the OP, I thought the parent of the child that complained (in the wankiest way possible) was crazy. But now they seem positively mild compared to those espousing they should be soaked in bleach and subject to treatment by baking soda, with some potential loose connection to Covid thrown in for good measure. Completely batshit.

@SarahDarah

Yikes the numbers of people on here who don't wash raw fruit/veg that's been grown outside in soil etc! With hygiene like this, no wonder Covid has been helped to spread...

Quit your pearl clutching scooby doo

What on earth is going on in your head?

I've never washed fruit or veg but I take precautions against covid (not by washing fruit, veg or any other food though)

The 2 are not even remotely comparable

@SarahDarah I’m not convinced that a quick rinse under a tap with kill covid or remove any pesticides which will have penetrated through the surface.

I don't fear germs. Would you eat something a waiter handled all the way to your table? No, and most people would complain. And not eat it. So why all the arguments against washing actual dirt off your food?

You don't think your food has been handled in the kitchen by whoever is cooking and plating it?

TolkiensFallow
I have often thought this while rinsing my fruit under water.

This lady would have had kittens about my 3 - they ate raw broad beans freshly picked, raw peas ditto, raw potato whilst I was peeling them for dinner, unpeeled carrots (although they were washed to get the soil off), french beans straight from the plant, not to mention PYO strawberries and raspberries and we didn't often wash apples from the greengrocer either! All 3 are now in their 20s and very healthy young people!

My children eat strawberries straight from the box by the bucket load. They've never been ill. Mind you, my toddler eats mud from the garden and has never been ill from that either. I only wash them if they are a bit gritty.

This lady would have had kittens about my 3 - they ate raw broad beans freshly picked, raw peas ditto, raw potato whilst I was peeling them for dinner, unpeeled carrots (although they were washed to get the soil off), french beans straight from the plant, not to mention PYO strawberries and raspberries

But assuming that you don't spray your produce with a cocktail of chemicals, none of those could be considered risky .

Only on MN is children snacking on 'freshly picked raw broad beans' held up as an example of edgy, we're-mad-we-are parenting...

@Quaggars

Source to back that up? Otherwise gonna file under loads of codswallop lol

It was quite a few years ago (probably pre internet news), but I heard it on BBC News and it was in some newspapers. I cannot remember the details or what the illness was called. I think the reason that it hit the news was because public health were initially mystified about how this disease could have been passed on and to so many people at a function as well as the fact it was about wee .

But it makes sense if wages are based on weight of produce.

There's this other article, not the same situation though:

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/farm-worker-sacked-urinating-field-5526560

Whatever, I am going to carry on washing fruit and veg!

@rantymcrantface66

I don't fear germs. Would you eat something a waiter handled all the way to your table? No, and most people would complain. And not eat it. So why all the arguments against washing actual dirt off your food?

You don't think your food has been handled in the kitchen by whoever is cooking and plating it?

😂😂

This thread is a competition for the most nutty post. Milton strawberries is probably best.

Do you mean Cyclospora infections "Mothership"? Cyclospora (Eukaryote, not a bacterium) is introduced by fecal contaminations, it's pretty much exclusively a tropical disease though, prevelant in Mexico and there have been outbreaks in the US, linked to migrant workers in the fruit fields.
The bit that makes me dubious about the story is the weeing in "the bag" bit. Anybody who has ever harvested more than a few handfuls of soft fruit knows not to put them into bags or stack them too high in anything. You'll end up with a soggy mess, even without wee.

I don't fear germs. Would you eat something a waiter handled all the way to your table? No, and most people would complain. And not eat it. So why all the arguments against washing actual dirt off your food?

Oh dear, you could well be in for a shock if you ever see some of the kitchens where food is prepared for the public Actually, I couldn't care less if the waiter did juggling tricks with my food before he placed it on the table.

Funnily enough, except for potatoes, I rarely see any food for sale which still has dirt on it - and strawberries don't even grow in the dirt!

Never washed any fruit in my 38 years. Never washed fruit for my kids - eldest has made it to 17.
I sometimes even just flick the compost off the mushrooms and eat them straight out of the pack!

All these children denied the pleasure of eating hedgerow fruit straight from the bushes or returning from PYO heavier than they went in.

I’m really Intrigued by all the folk who refuse to eat unwashed fruit and veg! What are you washing them in?

Surely simply rinsing them in cold water won’t actually wash off anything other than visible dirt which is (in the main) harmless and it’s just a placebo exercise.

Or have I just stumbled across the next big invention for the naive. ‘Fruit and veg rinse’ coming to a store near you! Just £2.99 for 30ml 🤔

@MattDillonsEyebrows, too late love. Loads of these on the market.

@Mincingfuckdragon
Oh balls I’m too late!
Back to the grindstone for me! Just need one good idea, I will make my millions!!

We live near farms including strawberries and having seen the amount of pesticides they spray on I would never let anyone eat it without giving it a rinse… It’s been sprayed with poison people…

It’s awkward when you have a playdate and discover that you have completely different levels of hygiene from the other family, but yabu to feed unwashed food to her child and yabvvu to moan about her on mumsnet looking for validation over your own poor hygiene.