How to clean salad and soft fruit ?

[20mum]

Rinsing in plain water cannot be adequate for killing potential virus on food that won't be cooked.

Has anyone solved what to do?

There is a foodwashing liquid from Ecover. Then, someone elsewhere thought vinegar was able to kill corona. The only other thìng in the house is the stuff for cleaning baby bottles.
There's no official advice, which is odd because food processing seems far from secure, as the source of many covid outbreaks Lots of foods never intended for cooking must be grown, harvested, processed and packaged, all in what could be high risk circumstances.

I would prefer hands to slugs. I read something about slugs/snails having lung parasites and it nearly put me off eating any fruit or veg entirely.

This has literally never cross my mind thank god

I'm shielding and no, I don't wash soft fruit or salad. Technically I probably shouldn't eat it anyway but I told my consultant I wasn't living without strawberries

There is so little risk that a quick rinse is fine. I soak veggies in salt water and fruits in lemon juice to get rid of pesticides (surely more problematic?) maybe try that?

@20mum

Thank you for the help. It's interesting the range of solutions people have. Wise up Janet you, as a contamination specialist, wash everything in soap and rinse it, so I'll take that as a good plan. My second part question to you is what kind of soap? The call to use special antivirus hand cleaner or else to wash hands extensively made it seem improbable a quick rinse in plain water was just as good, for virus destruction. Maybe the Ecover wash would be the least likely to leave a taste that doesn't rinse off the food easily.

Just a bit of washing up liquid, enough to give a few bubbles. Not roasting tin quantities.

It’s not evidence based though. In my risk assessment a fruit packer with Covid may have sneezed on my fruit so a good rinse is a proportional, low cost and reasonably convenient control measure. Added surfactant to zap the virus seems sensible - provided it’s rinsed off properly. An alternative would be Milton at baby bottle concentrations.

Water alone may be fine. After all you’re eating the fruit, not inhaling it, so your saliva and stomach acids will be protective against the odd surviving virus.

I’m also not going to call anyone stupid for taking greater or lesser measures. Everyone needs to decide what level of risk they are prepared to take, depending on their own circumstances.

I wash fruit & veg in diluted castile soap (Dr Bronner's) - this is one of its many recommended uses - then rinse thoroughly. I was doing this before Covid for non-organic stuff as I hate the idea of ingesting all those pesticides. Organic fruit & veg I used to just rinse under the tap, but I guess now I'm a bit more thorough. We are shielding dd, so need to be careful, but we definitely don't go overboard. I was washing shopping with soapy water but have slacked off a bit on that recently.

Can everyone stop bullying OP please. It's nasty and spiteful. Non of us know if it can be caught from these items. So maybe people can give practical advice and be decent

@ILikeyourHairyHands

Janet said contamination control and risk management were her specialist subject, NOT her job. She's probably just a paranoid android if she's washing strawberries in detergent...

Nice. Maybe try being less of a judgy twat.

I don’t wash mine never have, probably never will.

Thanks for the u.s.a. link. They say salmonella ecoli listeria and others on fresh food are the main cause of spread, and that what they call sprouts (but the illustration looks like mustard and cress) shouldn't be eaten at all by vulnerable people, even if they are growing their own at home in sterile conditions. Oh.

I just give mine a rinse, ever since I caught a fox pissing up against the raised strawberry bed in garden. Maybe grow your own OP in a greenhouse or something.

Dont wash mine. Not giving your body any bad bacteria or germs is just as damaging, Our immune system needs to be in active mode. Its like letting kids play with mud and get dirty. The chance of anything living on fruit for days on end is so small. If I was massively concerned I would just shelve it for a couple of days before eating, but for me its a very small concern.

Sprouts is sprouting seeds like beansprouts

@20mum

Thanks for the u.s.a. link. They say salmonella ecoli listeria and others on fresh food are the main cause of spread, and that what they call sprouts (but the illustration looks like mustard and cress) shouldn't be eaten at all by vulnerable people, even if they are growing their own at home in sterile conditions. Oh.

Apparently it’s the actual seeds that are the (potential) problem. If you just eat the growing bit it’s OK. I sprout mung beans for stir frys but don’t eat them raw.

Vegetable soap surely would be suitable? [Laughs heartily at own joke. Washing vegetables with vegetable soap, what a wag, etc etc]

@20mum

Thanks for the u.s.a. link. They say salmonella ecoli listeria and others on fresh food are the main cause of spread, and that what they call sprouts (but the illustration looks like mustard and cress) shouldn't be eaten at all by vulnerable people, even if they are growing their own at home in sterile conditions. Oh.

That's not quite what it says. It says "Children, older adults, pregnant women, and people with weakened immune systems (such as transplant patients and individuals with HIV/AIDS, cancer, and diabetes)" should avoid eating sprouts raw or lightly cooked - the advice is to cook thoroughly.

It's also referring to this being because of the potential growth of bacteria, nothing to do with Covid.

(and sprouts in the US are beansprouts/mung beans/alfafas, not the brussels sprout!)

Hi OP,

We cook most of our fruit and veg. Pre-packed salad; we just eat as it's been chlorine washed. We Milton wash strawberries and raspberries.

Oh remember though that fruit is likely to have been picked more than 3 days ago so the virus would have denatured by then if there was any. Also water and rubbing the surface of something does remove some viral particles too.

Most of those commercial washing liquids are .... ~drum roll~ .... bleach!!!! Do check but I think it's something like a few drops per litre of water?

I personally use vinegar in water.

Remember we don’t need to kill the virus, we need to wash it down the plug hole.

Quick rinse under the tap as did before corona virus. I read somewhere that even if virus was on food it would be killed by stomach acids and therefore no risk.

I would not wash in any sort of soap / disinfectant / cleaning solution as think chemicals are far more harmful than anything on the fruit / salad and plus it would wreck the texture and taste.

As OCD sufferer I do think your anxiety is off here - it is not normal to consider washing fruit and veg in any sort of cleaning solution, and you might to seek a bit or help and support in dealing with anxiety rather than doing it.

The virus only persists in its perfect conditions
and even then only for a few hours
and even then not proven to still be infective

does anybody have any evidence from ANYWHERE of a coronavirus being passed on via supermarket food?

Ingesting detergents is a much higher risk

I spent about two hours yesterday individually rinsing homegrown salad leaves and then running them through the salad spinner in small batches. Nothing to do with coronavirus, I'm at war with the fucking aphids

I do not wash shop-bought fruit and veg.

I suddenly feel very inadequate
I’ve never washed anything in my life . I don’t even peel my carrots (let alone wash) precovid or now.
Im 49 & never had a day off sick .
I scrap mould off the top of jam (my mum always did)

Quarantine for 2/3 days then wash with water