How are you washing your produce?

April 3, 2020 12:51 PM

I'm trying to work out if I should change my produce washing ways during this time. I usually rinse them (and rub) under cold water if it's a large piece of fruit or vegetable (like apple or potato) and soak in a mix of vinegar and cold water and then rinse clean with cold water for small things (grapes or brussels sprouts). These days, I have heard of people using hot water and even soap. Is that really necessary?
posted by massofintuition to Health & Fitness (12 answers total)

I don't know if it's necessary, but for years and years I have been using Planet or Seventh Generation (unscented) dish detergent to wash things like apples and bell peppers, because I'm really sensitive to the taste of wax. You can't taste it at all. So if you do decide to do it, it's fine.
posted by HotToddy at 12:54 PM on April 3, 2020 [4 favorites]

I'm washing it with soap, unless it's pre-packaged. In which case, repackaging and getting rid of whatever it's wrapped in.

Agreed with HotToddy that you can't taste it.
posted by Miss T.Horn at 12:59 PM on April 3, 2020

Cornell Institute for Food Safety:
"Q: How should we wash fresh produce?
(Posted 3/30/20)
With cold running water only. NEVER use soap or a bleach solution. Detergents and bleach solutions are not meant to be consumed or used on food, and washing your fresh produce in these solutions can make you sick."

Produce Blue Book:
Coronavirus doesn’t change produce washing rules

"Consumers should wash their hands in soap and water and wash their fruits and vegetables in water.

Same as before the Wuhan virus or coronavirus COVID-19 has spread worldwide."

Don Schaffner, Distinguished Professor & Extension Specialist, Rutgers:

"There's a bunch of people out there recommending you wash your fresh produce with soap. This is not a good idea. Soap is known to cause vomiting and or diarrhea. It’s for washing hands not for use on food."
posted by jocelmeow at 1:01 PM on April 3, 2020 [26 favorites]

Coronavirus is not a foodborne illness, it is a respiratory illness. You do not have to do anything special with any of your food. This is the reason why restaurants are allowed to stay open. You have to touch the droplets and then touch your eyes, mouth, or nose to get it. Experts also think it is repeated exposure to the virus that makes it worse. There was an editorial in the NYT this past week about this. So the very best thing to do is to continually wash your hands, and refrain from touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.
posted by momochan at 1:15 PM on April 3, 2020 [22 favorites]

I've been giving fresh fruits and veg 3 days before use (figuring that at worst they'd be on par with plastic/metal for virus retention) or cooking them. No salads for me these days. But I'm in a higher risk group and also naturally paranoid.
posted by lucasks at 1:22 PM on April 3, 2020 [1 favorite]

When I wash fruits and vegetables it's this...

Exactly How To Wash Your Fruits And Vegetables, According To Experts | HuffPost Life

An Easy Way to Remove Pesticides - Consumer Reports

But it's more for pesticide residue than other stuff. In the general case, little evil things are designed to live inside of living things and sanitation is mostly putting them in environments not like the insides of living things. Soap, heat, chlorine, etc. But just changing the pH level to something that would probably kill you if your insides were like that probably doesn't hurt.

Were I to wash fruits/vegetables it would either be in Acid (vinegar-ish) or Base (baking soda). The Base way has the additional benefit of being a bit like soap in that it sorta makes water a bit wetter. Just a bit more like soap and a bit more effective in picking up random things and carrying them down the drain.

I use a bit of vinegar for my bricks of cheese to keep them from going moldy (works), and wash grapes in a baking soda solution (also works). In general, maybe I'm fooling myself. I wouldn't wash with soap or bleach or anything like that which would most likely make you sick or just do harm to the fruits/vegetables. The same applies to them as yourself. The more harsh you go, the more damage you'll do to them and you'll be doing more harm than good and potentially making yourself ill as well.
posted by zengargoyle at 1:35 PM on April 3, 2020

nb for hot toddy above - you can just dip apples in hot water and give them a good rub with a paper towel, that's how i get the wax off of mine.

OP, everyone else telling you NO SOAP! is correct.
posted by poffin boffin at 1:51 PM on April 3, 2020 [1 favorite]

Thank you for this question and your answers. Some friends in a group chat were talking yesterday about how they're processing their grocery shopping: unpackaging everything and washing produce in some kind of soap or special cleaner in their garages before bringing them into the house, and I was silent thinking "I don't do any of these things and just wash my produce before using it" but wasn't sure if I wasn't doing enough or they were doing too much.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 1:56 PM on April 3, 2020 [5 favorites]

Coronavirus is not foodborne. You cannot get it from ingesting it. Wash your hands and don't touch your eyes or nose.
posted by hydropsyche at 1:59 PM on April 3, 2020 [3 favorites]

I also read all the advice above about not using soap, and I wash my produce normally. Most compelling to me is that, of all the restaurants out there and all the outbreaks that have been identified, if this were easily transmitted via food, *someone* in a kitchen somewhere would have gone to work with a cold (or asymptomatic transmission) by now, and we'd be seeing outbreaks where the common thread was "ate at same restaurant" like you do with norovirus. Instead we see largely interpersonal spread: parties, churches, weddings (spread by a guest, not by the caterer), choirs, conventions, conferences, spring break trips...
posted by Lady Li at 3:29 PM on April 3, 2020 [9 favorites]

Given that the question is "How are you washing your produce" and not "how should I wash my produce," I'll say that I'm okay with using a tiny amount of diluted mild dish soap in a bowl of cold water then rinsing in a colander. It's never made me sick in the slightest, but if you think it will make you sicker than COVID-19, feel free to not do that.

Soap breaks up the virus, dish soap is safe enough to wash my dishes and utensils in, I don't slather it on, I dilute it and rinse.

From LA Times: If you would prefer more extensive vegetable cleaning, here is what food scientist Harold McGee wrote in his book “On Food and Cooking”: “Soapy water and commercial produce washes are more effective than water alone.”

I don't know that my spinach has never been coughed on. It's not a gastrointestinal virus, but we can transfer the virus from surfaces to our mouths, yes? I don't know how to get food to my stomach without it touching my mouth.

Anyway, that's what I'm doing.
posted by sageleaf at 10:02 AM on April 4, 2020 [3 favorites]

I do not wash my produce unless I see literal dirt or if it is leeks (in which case there is always literal dirt even if you don't see it). This means I generally rinse potatoes and broadly speaking nothing else.
posted by annabear at 6:18 PM on April 4, 2020 [2 favorites]