Can I Eat This-Garden Version

September 3, 2020 4:32 PM

We just had a concrete pad poured out in my garden. All my lovely produce growing out there was pretty thickly covered in concrete dust. Its things like tomatos and eggplants and peppers with smooth, firm skins. If I rinse it really well, is it safe to eat? I'm scared concrete dust contains harmful chemicals of some mysterious (to me) nature.
posted by WalkerWestridge to Health & Fitness (6 answers total)

The dust is cement (one of the ingredients used to make the concrete). It will be a mix of things like crushed limestone, clay, sand, iron ore - it varies. Generally speaking, it's as safe as any other kind of dust you're likely to encounter. Wash your produce and it'll be fine.
posted by pipeski at 4:45 PM on September 3, 2020 [7 favorites]

I eat produce that has been dusted with wildfire ash (that stuff is nasty), bird poop, and the occasional dog pee. If it doesn't feel 100% clean to me after rubbing and rinsing, I might make a very weak Dawn water solution to cut any sticky petrochemicals in a second wash.
posted by Lyn Never at 4:56 PM on September 3, 2020 [4 favorites]

I would suggest rinsing down the plants themselves pretty well, though, as I suspect cement dust is not super beneficial to pollinators.
posted by Lyn Never at 5:13 PM on September 3, 2020 [5 favorites]

Some cement has been found to be contaminated with hexavalent chromium, for example, and there was an initiative some time ago to fire the kilns which produce the cement with waste oil which couldn't be recycled or used for other purposes, which would have meant more heavy metal contamination and low levels of partially burned potentially toxic halogenated hydrocarbons.

Environmental groups were opposing that and I didn't hear how it turned out, but I don't think they carried the day.

Even so, I think you'd be fine if you washed it carefully.
posted by jamjam at 5:17 PM on September 3, 2020 [2 favorites]

The main risk from concrete dust is via inhalation (silicosis); wash thoroughly and you'll be fine.

And, yeah, hose down the yard to knock the dust into the soil.
posted by aramaic at 5:47 PM on September 3, 2020 [5 favorites]

Hose down the plants and wash your veggies (as you should anyway), but don't worry too much about the concrete dust specifically. Your produce is safe to eat.
posted by desuetude at 11:20 PM on September 3, 2020 [1 favorite]