To wash my fruit and veg?

[Marmm]

Do you wash your fruit and veg before eating?
I usually wash the fruit when I buy it as the kids aren't going to be bothering with that.

Do you wash your fruit and veg or just cook it as it comes?

YABU = Don't bother washing them - I don't.
YANBU = yes of course wash them!

I am surprised so many people don't. It says to on most of the labels I've seen.

Having known a few agricultural engineers who spend their lives organising spraying of crops, I am surprised.
I always wash fruit and veg and tend to buy organic too just to avoid some of the pesticides which aren’t great for human health (long term, cumulatively, not a once off).
As for dust and dirt it is just nicer to eat that way.

Really surprised so many people don’t!

I always wash fruit and veg. I used to work in food hygiene and it’s drummed into me to wash everything.

I got food poisoning from unwashed lettuce once - 100% certain that’s what it was as only dh and I had it and that’s the only thing we ate that was the same (dh didn’t wash it) and it was the worst thing ever. Literally felt like I was being poisoned. Vision went blurry the works. I’m even more careful now!

@Rubyupbeat

I worked in Spitalfields for years and believe me, everyone would wash their fruit and veg too if they saw what goes on ie. Mice, rats, people spitting, cats sleeping on the boxes and pissing up and in them. That's without all the pesticides used on them.

Well now I don't want to eat it at all because what's water doing to do to all that :/

I'm surprised that so many here don't wash fruit and vegetables.

The clothes thing, nope don't wash new clothes or bedding either.

For some you are a manky person if you do not have a shower every day, but it's perfectly alright to not wash fruit or veg before eating.

Ha. That’s true. I’d rather not shower for a day or two than eat unwashed fruit and veg personally.

As for bedding, I always wash it when I buy it. It can have chemicals on that can cause skin reactions. I wash clothing when new for the same reason, also because people may have wore the item and then returned it. There was a thread the other day about new clothes arriving smelling of BO. I always thought shops didn’t allow knickers to be returned but Matalan let my mum return some years ago. She hadn’t actually tried them on but they didn’t know that. Another reason I wash everything.

Yes it's disgustingly unhygienic not to.

Yes I do but I don't think DH does even though he says he does.

Having said that, I am not sure what a bit of cold water will actually wash off.

No, only if there's clear mud on them. So baking potatoes, lettuce celery etc but otherwise I don't bother.

You should wash it because the staff spray and clean the shelving etc in supermarkets and the spray goes on the produce. I was a shelf stacker as a student so I can tell you that it’s true!

Nope never have. Still alive at 53

For some you are a manky person if you do not have a shower every day, but it's perfectly alright to not wash fruit or veg before eating.

I learned to shower regularly as a teen because I picked up on others talking about it/doing it.

I didn't ever see anyone wash fruit or veg and I didn't even hear about it until I was in my 30s

As the saying goes 'there's nowt so queer as folk'.

Not so much queer as disadvantaged.

Nope. Never have. Never well.

I didn't ever see anyone wash fruit or veg and I didn't even hear about it until I was in my 30s

Is basic hygiene not taught to kids in the UK?
I'm horrified to learn that so many people don't wash fruit/veg. This is something I was taught early as a child (not in the UK).

@GladysAndFred

I didn't ever see anyone wash fruit or veg and I didn't even hear about it until I was in my 30s

Is basic hygiene not taught to kids in the UK?
I'm horrified to learn that so many people don't wash fruit/veg. This is something I was taught early as a child (not in the UK).

Like I said, I was disadvantaged.

Not seeing anyone wash a piece of fruit doesn't even register on my scale of childhood issues.

@Bluebellbike

On a food hygiene course I was told to wash fruit and veg. Especially important if you are going to cut it with skin or rind on. This is because as you slide the blade into the fruit or veg you transfer any invisible dirt or bacteria on the outside straight into it.

This is the best reason to do it, but there are others: insects; pesticides; animals; the fact that some places use night soil, aka human shit, as fertiliser.

I wash all fruit and veg before I use it, and store it only in the crisper in the fridge so it doesn’t pass anything on to things I don’t wash before I consume them.

You don’t need to be taught to wash f&v, it says it on the packaging.

@SpaghettiArmsMurderer

You don’t need to be taught to wash f&v, it says it on the packaging.

I know right. It says right there!

@SpaghettiArmsMurderer

You don’t need to be taught to wash f&v, it says it on the packaging.

That might work for some, but not all. I'm autistic and I don't read things like that, I just follow example. It's masking and I have done it all my life. Copy others.

Most people will have seen others washing fruit/veg, either parents, carers, on TV etc. Or if you’ve had food tech lessons at school, they teach you to wash it. My midwife told me to as well when I was pregnant so if you’ve had kids, you may have been advised to. Not everyone does it, but I’m amazed when people say they didn’t know it was a thing.

Does washing a bit of veg or an apple in some cold water for 10 secs really remove anything?

Does washing a bit of veg or an apple in some cold water for 10 secs really remove anything?

Apparently so. Google it. For some it’s recommended to use a brush or to remove outer leaves and then soak before finding again, depending on the type of fruit veg. But yes, even just water reduces chemical residues and other things.

*before rinsing again

Most people will have seen others washing fruit/veg, either parents, carers, on TV etc. Or if you’ve had food tech lessons at school, they teach you to wash it. My midwife told me to as well when I was pregnant so if you’ve had kids, you may have been advised to. Not everyone does it, but I’m amazed when people say they didn’t know it was a thing.

I didn't even see fruit and veg as a child never mind see someone washing it. I was denied the majority of my education as well, so that 5 minute in food tech where the teacher said to wash it I almost certainly missed. I have 3 DC and my midwife never discussed food with me, aside from the usual 'what not to eat' list.

You can stop being 'amazed' - it happens. We are not all afforded the same past.

You can stop being 'amazed' - it happens. We are not all afforded the same past.

That’s why my post started with ‘Most people’. 😉 Most people will know it’s advised even if they don’t do it. There will be exceptions like with everything.