How are is it to eat soft skin fruits?

[Ranguski]

How much washing is enough washing for them to be deemed safe?

I must have missed the announcement that we're now anticipating a minimum of 200,000 deaths. Because that's what's going to happen if everyone "will probably get it".

I have had it, chances are my household have all had it.

Chances are you might have as well.

What do you propose? Everyone stays at home for the rest of the year (at least) and we all wash and sterilise everything we buy?

After that everyone’s immune systems will be so knackered the things that have been around for years that we just fight off as part of everyday live will start killing people off when we try and return to normality anyway.

We are all going to be exposed to it. It’s about slowing the spread so NHS can cope, it’s not going away.

The news yesterday kept reiterating this point.

It’s horrific, people will (and have) get very sick and die, most of us will be fortunate enough to just fight it off - like I did and everyone else in my house.

For info - I have two close friends who have lost relatives, so am fully aware of the implications to those less fortunate than me.

People need to be realistic. If you think you can avoid this forever you are deluded, and personally I don’t want a vaccine that’s been rushed out and that’s not going to be 2020 anyway

Milton has always been used to sterilise fruit. In Italy the equivalent product has instructions on fruit washing.
I have just used washing up liquid so far, but I always have Milton in the house as I use it when I wash the bathroom floor, or on door handles etc if anyone has a tummy bug.

I eat them as normal- without washing (which I know you meant to do)

I eat fresh brambles and bilberries every day with my porridge, but I microwave them first.
Other fruit (apples, bananas, etc) I chop, cook and then blitz into smoothies with cooked spinach, cucumber, and some pureed ginger.

It means I have nothing raw, but still get a healthy diet.

@Welshwabbit

Sorry it was an error to write viruses. They are indeed bacterial infections and depending on the strain cannot be treated with antibiotics. If it’s ecoli that causes a urinary tract infection then yes it can but the ecoli that lives on fruit and vegetables is far more deadly and cannot.

This is from the FSA website:

E. coli O157 is often passed on through raw and undercooked meats. It can also be spread through other contaminated foods, such as vegetables and salads, water or unpasteurised milk. You can also catch it from person-to-person contact.

Link showing what I’m talking about:

www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/health-36823404

Oh dear, I never wash any fruit or veg, unless it has obvious soil or dirt on it. I'm also not washing my shopping when I get it back from the supermarket. I've weighed up the risk for myself and my family.

I've never been an obsessive veg and fruit washer, will eat stuff out of date/bb - I go by smell, texture, sight etc. It has stood me and my family well and it helps to keep our immune system working.

This said, no one in my immediate family has any underlying health conditions, we are all of a healthy weight and BMI. We wash our hands after being outside and avoid touching our faces. Everything being too sterile, can't be good for you (unless you are immuno suppressed).

To posters saying they don’t wash fruit or vegetables ever, it’s just good common sense to wash them. Even just with water.
Regardless of viruses/bugs they are sprayed with pesticides and fertilisers. Some crops quite heavily.

To posters saying they don’t wash fruit or vegetables ever, it’s just good common sense to wash them. Even just with water.
Regardless of viruses/bugs they are sprayed with pesticides and fertilisers. Some crops quite heavily.*

Personal choice. I am not arsed about any of those things. I breathe in worse and come into contact with more germs every time I leave the house and have done for more than forty years.

I agree @Wannabegreenfingers that we can be too sterile in this modern world. I actively encourage my kids to play in the mud, run about barefoot and we have a dog, a cat and other smaller pets (which is proven to help build immunity in children) BUT if you read about what they spray on our fruit and veg you’d wash it I’m telling you 😆 It’s the chemicals that will build up in your system over a long period of time. That’s different to a bit of mud or dirt.

I agree @Rebootingagain
It certainly is personal choice.

Another one who doesnt wash fruit and veg. And we eat lots.

@Rebootingagain - You do realise that to infect the whole population at a speed the NHS can cope with will take many more years than the projections for a vaccine? What do I propose - suppression measures to limit the spread, until more is known about effective treatment and prevention. Which is progressing all the time. And is the strategy advised by world experts. And is the strategy being adopted by countries with far better outcomes than us, thus far. What makes you think you know better?

And on that note, do you have a credible source for your claim that an established immune system will wither away to nothing if exposed to fewer germs for a period of time?

Milton has always been used to sterilise fruit. In Italy the equivalent product has instructions on fruit washing.
I have just used washing up liquid so far, but I always have Milton in the house as I use it when I wash the bathroom floor, or on door handles etc if anyone has a tummy bug.

I can't comment on whether or not it's warranted it Italy, but it's not in this country - coronavirus or no coronavirus. You'll note that such instructions are not on the UK product. And as for using it to disinfect the house - there are dozens of products that can do that, but there's no alternative product (that I've found, at least) to use in cold water sterilisers.

@ PowerslidePanda

How many of us do you think have already had it but not noticed?

In the weeks before lockdown I was on holiday out of Europe, went to several UK city centres, used packed trains and hotels and went through four packed airports. I ate in restaurants and went to cinemas.

I had the virus but didn’t know and probably infected hundreds of others.

In My opionion, and that’s all it is, the obsession with washing everything is totally OTT. We need to keep a lid on a few things for a while to slow the spread, but it’s out there and going nowhere and most of us have been in contact with it anyway

Maybe Avoid soft skin fruits if it’s stressing you out, or get some tinned versions.

I just rinse and run under the tap like I’ve always done.

As for catching the virus, now would be a good time surely? 3000+ spare critical care beds, empty Nightingale hospitals. I’d rather get it now than next winter. 🤷‍♀️

Strawberries in Milton ... yuk would rather not eat!

Just wash in hot water and soap. If it's safe enough to kill the virus on the hands of healthcare professionals, it's safe enough for fruit.

As for catching the virus, now would be a good time surely? 3000+ spare critical care beds, empty Nightingale hospitals. I’d rather get it now than next winter

Maybe, but it would be a bloody stupid time to pick up something like E. coli.

Just wash in hot water and soap. If it's safe enough to kill the virus on the hands of healthcare professionals, it's safe enough for fruit.

By the time you've washed your strawberries thoroughly in hot soapy water for 30 seconds, you've got a mushy mess.

Jesus, never washed fruit before, not before or during corona virus. Calm down.

The microbilogist Sky news have been consulting throughout this was asked about cleaning food. He said that he is not bothering to wipe down shopping (didn't say no risk but interpret how you like). He said that fruit and veg that will be peeled and boiled are ok. However to my surprise considering his laid back approach he did say that eating something like an apple 'as is' could be a problem, and that just rinsing it under the tsp would not be enough. Frustratingly he did not give any further advice based on that comment, probably time ran out.

Tap not tsp

I'm being shielded (autoimmune and heart conditions) and I'm not having certain fruits (peaches, raspberries etc).

Everything else that isn't peelable goes in a sink full of cold water and bicarbonate of soda for about 30 mins then I rinse it for a while.

Same with lettuce, cabbage, tomatoes etc.

I'm just rinsing fruit and veg as usual.

If food and packaging were as contagious as the way people are carrying on, half the population would have been infected back in March quicker than you could say "panic buying".

I'm sanitising/ washing my hands more around doing the food shopping and putting it away and that's that.

By the time you buy a packet of raspberries, it will very likely to be at least 3 days since they were picked anyway, and even if the person who picked them had coronavirus, the virus will not be alive on the fruit. I am just washing fruit in cold water, as I always do.