By JJ

May 4, 2007 9:52 AM | Link to this

Of course I wash all produce, including the bagged salads. I have no idea how many people have handled that particular piece of fruit/veggie etc, so you better believe I wash everything that doesn’t come out of my own garden. I NEVER eat anything from the produce section until it is home and washed. Kids with snotty hands playing with it in the store, numerous field workers picking, etc……it’s just gross to pick something up and start eating it.

By kaben

May 4, 2007 9:58 AM | Link to this

not only do i wash all produce but i soak it for a few minutes in a water bath with a few drops of liquid grapeFRUIT seed extract - also known as gse. this stuff kills all kinds of bacteria AND fungi, including e-coli. it was the ONLY thing that got rid of a recurring case of impetigo in two of my kids, knocked out an abcess in less 12 hours in my sister and food poisoning in myself in less than 12 hours (without an er visit). it’s THE secret ingredient in some of the so called vegie washes on the market. it’s cheaper in the long run because you only use a few drops and it lasts for a good while.

By Noelle

May 4, 2007 9:58 AM | Link to this

I’ll occasionally let “prewashed” veggies go, especially if I’m cooking them anyway (like precut greens or chopped bell pepper mix). Most of the prewashed stuff get an extra wash at home, though, along with everything else. I use a vegetable brush to scrub most veggies and fruits before using them.

I spend more time being careful to keep fresh produce separate from other things that might contaminate it at home. It’s a lot more common to get food poisoning from using the same knife to cut up fresh veggies and raw chicken than it is to get it from bagged salad mix.

By mark

May 4, 2007 10:18 AM | Link to this

i don’t wash lettuce but it sounds like i should.

By not as careful as I should be

May 4, 2007 10:44 AM | Link to this

I’m way too lazy to wash lettuce. It makes it too soggy and I dislike soggy salad, it’s messy and it takes so many paper towels to dry it. I definitely do not wash bagged salad. Isn’t that the whole reason for paying more for bagged produce? I do wash everything else even things that you peel because the experts say pesticides on the peel could get inside the item when you cut it up. I definitely wash imported fruit because they say you never know what kind of pesticides they use outside of the U.S.

By vagatarian

May 4, 2007 10:55 AM | Link to this

kaben where can I purchase the gse?

By Stacey

May 4, 2007 10:58 AM | Link to this

I don’t always wash the bagged lettuce (I’m not sure why) and I rarely was things like the baby carrot. I always everything else including the bagged spinach, turnips & mustards.

Kaben…Where do you get grapefruit seed extract? I’m not familiar with it but I do use the produce wash on apple and other things that I eat raw, without peeling.

By Katie

May 4, 2007 11:00 AM | Link to this

YES, YES I do… knowing how dirty some people are and seeing people touch all the produce in the stores I wash my produce very well. Ever seen anyone picking their nose while driving? It scares me to know what they touch when they get out of their cars. Same goes for the butt pickers. I wash all bagged salads and all wrapped produce as well. You can’t gaurentee that produce companies wash the produce but you can if you do it yourself. It’s simple, easy and will prevent you from getting the runs (e.coli or camphy, shigella etc…).

By Katie

May 4, 2007 11:01 AM | Link to this

oh, if you don’t have gse in your cabinet, you can wash your produce in a 5% bleach solution, safe, effective and it kills everything.

By Beverly

May 4, 2007 11:19 AM | Link to this

I would also like to know where to find gse (possibly a health food/nutrition store?)

By The FDA is borken

May 4, 2007 11:24 AM | Link to this

Considering the U.S. is now an importer of food and the lax standards our FDA inspections have taken on of the food we eat: With the green onion scare out of Mexico, the tainted spinach out of California, the recent the melamine contamination coming from China, including the recent revelation that some small food producers in that country have gone after easy profits by adding cheaper ingredients to undercut their competitors, it certainly justifies the extra expense of buying the food wash products available and the precautions to thoroughly make good use of them on all produce before it is consumed.

By sunshine608

May 4, 2007 11:41 AM | Link to this

heck yeah !!- I always was my produce. You never know who or what has touched your fruit and where it came from. Plus with all the stuff added to fruits and veggies you never know. As for the bagged salads- i always wash them. Washing means different things to different people and Dole or whoever might have vastly different standards.

By Bing

May 4, 2007 12:15 PM | Link to this

I see alot of thought went into this blog’s subject. Maybe tomorrow we can have a blog about whether you put your right sock on first, or your left.

By fer

May 4, 2007 12:18 PM | Link to this

I’ve been told to wash the bagged salads, but I must admit I don’t. I hate washing and drying lettuce. Everything else I wash. I often use a drop of Dawn to wash things like apples, pears, grapes, but I suppose the gse stuff would be better, wouldn’t it?

By And By

May 4, 2007 12:33 PM | Link to this

Sorry folks, gse is not effective. Please do some research before you go out and stockpile it.

Here are five tips for proper cleaning and handling of fresh produce:

The produce is not the only thing you need to wash. Wash your hands thoroughly, using warm water and soap, for at least 20 seconds before and after handling food. “Dirty hands are a very common source of bacterial contamination,” says Feist. “Hand washing is one of the most important things you can do to reduce the incidence of food-borne illness.” Wash the produce under a stream of cool water or using the spray nozzle of your faucet. Rub the produce with your hands, or scrub with a vegetable brush, to remove potential bacteria in all the grooves and crevices. No soap or special solutions are necessary; plain, cool water is the best agent. “Solutions designed to wash produce have not shown any advantage of reducing pathogens on produce over using cool running water,” Feist says. One potential source of contamination is your own kitchen. Knives, cutting boards, counters, plates, and sponges should be cleaned with soap and water to prevent contamination. “Sponges stay moist and are often breeding grounds for bacterial contamination, so we recommend using clean cloth towels instead of sponges, and washing them often,” says Feist. If you prefer sponges, wash them often, in either the dishwasher or washing machine. Store perishable fruits and vegetables (such as strawberries, lettuce, herbs, and mushrooms) in a clean refrigerator kept at 40 degrees or below, the FDA recommends. And always refrigerate produce that was purchased pre-cut or peeled, to maintain quality and safety. Food-Borne Illness

By Katie

May 4, 2007 1:20 PM | Link to this

And By, 5% bleach will kill everything (all pathogens) that may be growing on produce—period. It will not make your food taste funny after rincing either.

By One

May 4, 2007 1:27 PM | Link to this

I wash EVERYTHING!!!!! All produce, all meats, everything!! I’ll use a drop of dish liquid or bleach when I think it’s necessary. Even the alleged pre-washed stuff, wash it too!!

By cemeeli

May 4, 2007 1:35 PM | Link to this

I use a solution sometimes…’vinegar and cool water’ which is fruit/veggie wash. Dole and Heinz makes a version and i have that. I agree that the 5% bleach is okay but I don’t use it. maybe i will try that. If you don’t have any of the above mentioned..USE SOME TYPE OF CLEANER FOR YOUR FRESH PRODUCE!!! This will keep you and your family healthy of bacteria, wax and germs left on between the purchase from the store and your kitchen.

By RCH

May 4, 2007 2:01 PM | Link to this

I see what is important in life. Do some of you have a life if this is what you worry about.

By Katie

May 4, 2007 2:11 PM | Link to this

RCH, if you’ve ever had food poisoning it would become important to you. You can easily get e-coli, shigella, camphy and other stomach viruses if you don’t wash your food. It’s not just for red meat or chicken any more. I think it’s gross that you don’t wash your food prior to consumption. Have you not noticed the un-clean people around you in the store—hacking/coughing around food, sneezing, picking their butts, figeting with their hair, mouths, ears or whatever and you eat food that they may have just had their nasty little fingers on?? How could you not want to wash your food. You are a much stronger person than I to feel comfortable doing that.

By RCH

May 4, 2007 2:15 PM | Link to this

Katie, The question was ” do you wash your produce”. To me thats like asking do you put gas in your car. Of course. What is there to debate.

By Doc

May 4, 2007 2:37 PM | Link to this

Many of you people are waaaayyyyy over the top here. Washing produce that comes loose - like potatoes, apples, etc is fine. But for the other items that are already bagged, it’s foolish.

Sure, you get a little bacteria - but you need it! Seriously, study after study has shown that kids today are more sickly than years past because they “don’t play in the dirt” as much - and get exposed to various things to build up their immune system.

Same thing with food. If you only eat food that you’ve covered in bleach or done other things to, then you’ll never build up the proper antibodies you need to fight off future infections.

Chill out people! The obsessive ones here are actually the ones who’ll get sicker in the end!

By Jack P

May 4, 2007 2:42 PM | Link to this

YES!

By tc

May 4, 2007 2:58 PM | Link to this

Doc - I agree with you. I’ve had food poison twice, but both times were from a cruise to Mexico, and the people there drink the same water as I did & never get sick. I don’t wash any of my lettuces’ & I eat salads quite often. I’m more in line with washing all my meats, making sure my eggs are done & keeping the counters free of bacteria to avoid bacteria.

By Alli

May 4, 2007 3:20 PM | Link to this

Unless the produce looks dirty or it has fallen on the floor I don’t wash it. I’ve never gotten sick from anything that I’ve eaten. I know this sounds unreasonable to some of y’all, but I feel that with never washing anything I get the bacteria in my system and build up a defense to it. I also never wash my hands after I go to the bathroom. There are so many things that I touch throughout the day, that the bathroom is the least of my worries. I know it might sound gross/dirty to some of y’all, but it works for me. The only time I wash my hands is if they are dirty, and I never get sick. So why wash my produce if I don’t even wash my hands!

By my

May 4, 2007 3:26 PM | Link to this

well said. Doc!

Nowadays we are too clear. A little bacteria would hurt.

By glad I'm not the only one who doesn't

May 4, 2007 3:30 PM | Link to this

Bing, you are too funny with the sock comment. Reminds me of a conversation my niece once brought up at a cookout at her home in Texas while we were waiting for the food to cook over the fire: do you do sock-sock shoe-shoe, or sock-shoe sock-shoe? Very seldom would you stop to think about this and it actually proved to be quite an interesting conversation.

By hand washer

May 4, 2007 3:38 PM | Link to this

I am not toilet seat or germ-phobic, nor have I ever gotten sick from kitchen or food germs (except once from eating long-frozen chicken when my roommate defrosted the fridge - bad memories of a trip to the ER and one real bad stomach ache!) but I do wash my hands or use hand sanitizer several times daily esp. in flu season. I’ve gone without a flu shot the last couple of seasons trying to leave them for the elderly and young, so I try to follow the advice of the experts and wash my hands a lot.

By LR

May 4, 2007 4:11 PM | Link to this

Sheesh. Some of you people are a little OCD I think.

I wash, with a vegetable brush and under a stream of very warm water, anything that I consume raw or do not peel before cooking (like potatoes or carrots). That’s it. Not the pre-washed salads or raw veggies, that’s why I pay extra for those. And the only food poisoning I’ve gotten in the past 25+ years was one instance where I was on the road and eating nothing but restaurant food for a week. I should also disclaim, however, that I am a vegetarian and not prone to cutting up raw chicken and similar items known for creating unsanitary kitchen conditions.

I recall an article that reported how children growing up in super-clean, almost antiseptic, homes were much more likely to develop asthma, allergies, and other immune sytem problems later in life. Could it also be the case when it is food that is being over-sanitized? Also, this may be taking it a little far, but have you ever known dogs to get food poisoning? And you know they don’t care what goes in their mouth. Now I’m not saying we need to start eating off the floor, but it makes me wonder if the problem is really that people’s immune sytems have become so weak and coddled that even small amounts of natural bacteria can overrun the body and lead to the effect we call food poisoning.

By Better safe than sorry

May 4, 2007 4:43 PM | Link to this

I absolutely wash all produce before I eat it, and no longer eat raw fruits or vegetables in a restaurant (or even at someone else’s home unless I know for a fact that they’ve been thoroughly washed).

I’m hypervigilant because I have an autoimmune disorder and it’s my doctor’s recommendation to avoid raw produce unless I know how it’s been cleaned.

I also only buy hydroponically grown lettuce on the rare occasion that I eat salad now. I miss my leafy greens, so I’m looking into growing my own this summer.

Make sure you scrub melons well before you cut into them. My mom got horribly sick from cantaloupe at a brunch buffet in Las Vegas. She and my dad ate all the same foods except the melon, and she’s the only one who got sick.

Yes, it’s all a PITA, but in this day and age, you can’t be too careful. I remember reading that the majority of stomach “viruses” are actually food-borne illnesses.

By sara

May 4, 2007 5:29 PM | Link to this

I wash my produce because people who don’t wash their hands after using the toilet (Alli!!!) quite possibly are touching the food that I bring home. Sure we need exposure to bacteria to develop immunity, but there is a reason why we wash our hands after we use the toilet. And the fact that some people don’t is reason enough for me to take extra precautions with produce or any other food that has been touched by who knows who.

By Kat

May 4, 2007 5:50 PM | Link to this

I wash the whole veggies or ones that don’t come bagged. But the prechopped, presliced onion or mushrooms, or the bagged salads I don’t. I’ve never had food poisoning either.