Do you wash the fruits before you give them to your kids?

[Fivelittlemonkeys]

I mean, you get a pack of strawberries or blueberries.

Do you wash them under running water or just give them to the little ones?

I always wash them to get rid of dust, dirt, soil etc. but then I have seen people that open the pack and start eating them....

If it's something different, like an orange or banana, I don't wash them.

Yes, unless it's something that needs peeling obviously.

I don't just wash them I leave all berries to soak, especially if I pick them myself.

@Blossom64265 e-coli and other bacteria are mostly spread by humans. To be honest most food processing plants "wrap" (as in they wear ppe) staff for this very reason. Most bacteria lands on the food in the supermarket.

I read an article recently where they tested fruit and it was tangerines/satsumas that contained the most chemicals/pesticides out of all fruit so not sure washing is especially helpful

I always wash fruits and vegetables.

Anyone who has ever worked as a fruit or veg picker in a field will tell you to wash them.

Ain't no toilets in those fields and lots of the people I worked with were young people on gap years who ate cheap food and got the shits. A lot

Sometimes, I know I should and my mum disapproves of me not doing so but 14 years in with eldest and my haphazard approach hasn't killed him.

I wash all of them as I get scared some bug or spider comes out but even worse, it could be sprayed with chemicals so I wash thoroughly.

No, never.

Yes, usually left in cold water for ten minutes then drained. More concerned about chemicals than a bit of dirt, I don't wash raspberries or blueberries from the garden.

I always wash fruit and veg (unless it has inedible peel, like oranges and bananas). Even if it's organic, it is still likely to have had foxes, mice etc cavorting over it. And as a PP mentioned, where do the fruit pickers in the fields go to the toilet? And do they have hand-washing facilities in the fields?

I never wash fruit unless visibly dirty. Same with veg! Also, running fruit under water is not going to remove any "chemicals"

Yes they should be washed. Apart from pesticides, imagine how many people touched them before your kids did

I rinse them if they look a bit dusty or there's visible dirt on them, but that's it. My train of thought is that pesticides and fertilisers are designed to withstand rain and watering so rinsing or soaking in cold water probably doesn't remove any residue. Likewise, with bacteria and viruses, you would need to wash them in hot soapy water, not just rinse under the cold tap.

Yes I wash them- my friends little boy got worms and hospital said it was most likely a parasite from unwashed fruit

@NannyR water is actually a universal solvent so it can remove quite a large proportion of dirt, chemicals etc. it's better to clean under a constant flow rather than letting them soak. Anything that is removed with just water can be removed with salt water (2-3% solution)

@Hiddenvoice most of us actually have worms you do know that? We should treat ourselves and our dc once a year for them.

Absolutely would always wash any fruit or vegetables before eating. I wash any fruit or veg I cut regardless of whether we eat the skin or not. I wouldn’t use a knife on unwashed watermelon then drag it through the flesh. Supermarket storage can be utterly filthy.

I’ve not noticed a difference to all the time I’ve spent washing fruit fruit, it’s not like those minutes are noticeably missing from my life.

Sweepeep

I know that it is contact with people that spreads bacteria to the food. That doesn’t mean that the bacteria doesn’t get transmitted. Our supply chain bring so large and provides many contact points and batching so things spread wider than they might have in the days of yore. It certainly doesn’t mean anyone is more diseased or any one thing is more dangerous, bigger is not always better.

[quote sweepeep]@Hiddenvoice most of us actually have worms you do know that? We should treat ourselves and our dc once a year for them. [/quote]
That's because you don't wash your fruit 😂

People who have higher hygiene standards don't have worms.

@BourbonVanilla I wash my fruit all the time! I have spent my entire education studying micro organisms and such. I can tell you that threadworms are LITERALLY EVERYWHERE!! 🤣 and they mostly come in meats.

Yes I wash any fruit except ones which have a skin that gets peeled. We take fruit on packed lunches regularly and I always buy ahead so I can wash and repackage, I would never buy them to eat straight from a shop (except the expensive precut fruit). Have never thought of washing melon etc before cutting though.

Nope. Don't cut either. And we all lived.

Mostly, sometimes she gets her mitts on them before I’ve had chance to and it doesn’t overly worry me. I do it because I know I’m supposed to be even reading this thread of the terrible things that touch my blueberries I can’t summon up much more than a ‘meh’ response.