To not wash my fruit and veg

[Darkmorningsarethepits]

I just don’t. Never have.
Am I going to die from pesticide exposure or some other hideous hidden danger.

Am I the only person who doesn’t?

I do yeah but didn’t in my early twenties. But too many slugs and caterpillars have ruined salads etc over the years! When you wash leaves in a colander, it’s surprising how often you’ll find a slug at the bottom of it at the end. 🤢

Also, whenever I go into Aldi and Lidl, the loose veg is really low, almost on the floor level, and I think of the mice probably running around there at night. There are traps outside which always make me think about this.

How do you know your food poisoning came from the spinach? There is no way to be certain if it wasn’t tested, and as a poster said cold water couldn’t have made the difference

Any pesticides are going to be in the plant fibres so no amount of water is going to get them out. Most veg is going to be either peeled and boiled/roasted or boiled and roasted. The majority of salad stuff has never even seen soil or fresh air as it's grown hydroponically.

It'll get a rinse to remove grit if it's actually been grown in the ground or if there's a chance there could be bugs in it because it's come out of the garden, it gets left for ten minutes in water to see if anybody floats to the surface, but I'm not going to get het up about it.

2 words....human poo

www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/58654125.amp

Washing actual soil off fruit and veg does make a difference. Like I said, there is a type of food poisoning you can get from soil

What about just general dust. If you have a fruit bowl sitting out, it will attract dust in the same way any surface does.

It doesn’t though because the soil was stuck to the veg, so any bacteria is on the surface of the veg as well as in the soil.

If washing makes no difference, why do we even bother washing our hands?

Hands are washed w hot water and soap - and rubbed a lot! Not many people do that to their fruit and veg…

Can you really not see the difference between those things?!?

I never do and I’m fine.

Very bemused by the number of people on this thread who think a bit of cold or warm water is going to wash off any of that stuff. I just don’t worry about it.

Well I just googled should you wash fruit and veg and there is absolutely loads of information about it and the overwhelming answer seems to be yes...it won't remove everything but it's better than nothing.

If you’re just washing your hands in water then you’re doing it wrong

If you’re washing your fruit and veg in soap then you’re doing it wrong

HTH

Don’t you think there would be public service information about it if it was dangerous not to wash f&v? Like do you think the government and NHs would just let us all poison ourselves 😂

Well obviously

But rinsing and scrubbing fruit and veg in water is going to remove more bacteria, pesticides and dirt than not doing it...so why wouldn't you?

I don’t unless it obviously needs it. Most peeling and/or cooking gets rid of it anyway.

People on here are literally saying they don’t because it’s a waste of time. They’re openly telling you why they don’t.

Watched a documentary about cucumber picking in Albania about 30 years ago. Load of guys with TB hacking up and spitting everywhere. Cannot unsee it.
I scrub veg, peel it where possible.

I wash anything leafy as it often has grit or earth on it - leeks, salad, spinach, sandy carrots etc. and it’s not pleasant to eat. Broccoli too, as slugs can hide inside .

Im not saying it's dangerous.... obviously a public health campaign costs money and it's obviously not such a public health danger that it would be worth doing...

Regardless there's lots of dangerous, unhealthy, sub optimal things which the government doesn't bother to run public campaigns about ..

Yet what little TB there is in the uk isn’t being spread by cucumber 🤣 imagine

I don’t bother.

I’m pretty sure they’re not running round at night! They have to have pest control though as do restaurants etc
I lived and worked in pubs and restaurants, all had mice control boxes, none had mice

I always was my fruit and veg because:

1-pesticides and strange fertilisers
2- handled by a long chain of workers with potentially subpar hygiene standards (you never know!).

Each to their own . We'll all die of something.

After working in a supermarket distribution centre, i always wash everything. Especially if it's loose as there's a good chance it's been on a dirty warehouse floor.