if I can't bear the thought of eating unwashed fruit/veg/salad?

[bohemianbint]

I'm not particularly precious hygiene-wise about most things, but the thought of just eating grapes/apples/salad straight from a supermarket without washing them just gives me the fear. It's partly the fact that you don't know who, or what has been all over your loose veg prior to it getting to you, partly because of the amount of chemicals sprayed onto the stuff (apparently non- organic apples can have up to 20 different chemicals on their skin), and partly because am pregnant and you're supposed to be wary of bagged salad. Which is also often washed in water containing more chlorine than your average swimming pool.

Am I a lone freak? Other people I know don't seem to have these qualms. I just can't bear the thought of it...

I just eat it.

i wash everything, except fruit or things that say there already washed (obv i wash strawberrys etc etc) so ur not alone. I have a phobia of raw meat! I have to turn the tap on before i touch the meat so as soon as i've touched it i can wash my hands without getting traces of raw meat on the tap handles!

I wash everything (even though I buy organic) but if I can't then I don't stress about it (e.g. when camping last weekend we didn't wash grapes).

I dunno if it's my mind playing tricks, but I imagine I can actually taste the chemicals on things if I don't wash 'em.

I dunno if it's my mind playing tricks, but I imagine I can actually taste the chemicals on things if I don't wash 'em.

I wash everything. It's not about catching anything really. If you stopped washing up plates and cutlery at home you probably wouldn't catch anything that you wouldn't have caught anyway, but you wouldn't DO that would you.

I don't wash mushrooms. Just chuck em in as they come!

No I am with you BB but I am a bit phobic about fruit and veg to be honest. A bruised banana or apple that I have bitten in to and did not see the bruise till after will make me shudder for days. DH feeds the kids grapes sometimes that have not been washed because we are out and I get all edgy and practically have to wear a gag to stop from moaning at him.

YANBU but often I can't be bothered to wash the fruit first - espcially if its something like an apple from a bag of apples that seem to gleam. I might polish one on the thigh of my jeans though.

I wash things I can actually wash iyswim - I really don't see the point of bothering with strawberries as you can't exactly use a scourer.

But yanbu, whatever suits you is fine!

BB I agree with you. dd1 was given a couple of strawberries by an extremely kind lady in the supermarket the other day. They were unwashed we said thank you very nicely but at home would have definitely washed them!

I don't like eating unwashed stuff because I've worked in a small grocers and I've seen people handling it with their manky hands. [shudders]

I know when you're PG you need to be careful so YANBU. Personally when I was preganant I didb't want to touch the stuff - not for hygiene reasons, but because the thought of it made me feel sick! Even the idea of sliced tomatoes or lettuce in a prepacked sandwich! Maybe this is your body telling you something, rather than just being neurotic. I remember my workday lunches conisted of cheese and pickle sandwiches and whatever was going for pudding! They said expecting a girl gives you a sweet tooth and it was certainly true for me. Back to normal now and no, I never wash prepacked salad and only wash things like radishes if the dirt is really obvious...

Some people have mentioned organic stuff here. Can I just point out that if you're going to wash fruit and veg you need to wash organic stuff as well, it may not have chemical pesticides on it but it would have had natural non-chemical based pesticides and if it was in the ground things like manure which can contain just as many harmful toxins as chemical pesticides. Jut because it's organic doesn't mean it's clean!

And if you're pregnant, you need to be extra careful because of the risk of toxoplasmosis.

see here's a thing I would really like to know the answer to:

Those pesticides etc are designed to be rain-resistant otherwise they'd just wash off in the rain. So how is washing with water going to help?

And as for bugs, water won't get rid of them either. Water doesn't kill bugs.

Genuinely I wonder how useful sluicing a tomato is. I'd be grateful if someone who knows about pesticides etc could gen me up on this.

When I was pg I was also paranoid about this so basically lived on food where this is not an issue (avocados, bananas).

marog, washing fruit and veg will get rid of harmful bacteria and germs that have contaminated the food either from the soil and manure or from people handling the food or during transport and storage. Washing won't get rid of the pesticide residues BUT luckily fo rus, pesticide residues are not allowed to exceed onehundredth of the amount that causes even a slight reaction in the most sensitive species, according to strict legislation, and monitoring processes in place are very strict and aggressive.

Pesticides cannot exceed the one hundredth of the ADI. ADI stands for "Acceptable Daily Intake?. It indicates the amount of a substance which can be ingested daily over a lifetime by consumers without any appreciable health risk.

there's more here if you can be bothered with reading it.

how would rinsing in water get rid of germs? This is the bit I don't understand. Rinsing hands with water doesn't make them clean. It makes them wet. Surely some soap/anti-bacterial product/bleach is needed to actually remove germs?

I can see that water would sluice away visible dirt but not germs, or is this wrong?

I never do when its from a supermarket and pre-packed, only if its from a farm shop and completely fresh iyswim. I have had d and v once in 10 yrs and that was due to starting CM- children picked things up and I got it. I never do veg to cook because at boiling the bacteria will be killed anyway, without washing.

Margo, I agree with you. Washing in cold water will not kill bacteria, just wash away visible dirt.

Slightly off topic, but I once read an article that said that if you wash fruit and veg in Milton, it kills bacteria and therefore the food lasts longer before going off. Never tried it but makes sense!

I think you can buy some sort of spray to put on your veg to clean it with - but I haven't quite gone this far yet. Only cos I can't find it though!

I'm more vigilant since being PG, as there is the risk of toxoplasmosis. Comes from soil I think so I just wash off visible dirt, generally anyway. But I often forget with things like fruit and peppers.