I quit using bags for produce--I just put the produce in my basket or cart and then straight into the checkout bag on my way out of the store.
The exception is small loose produce like snap peas.
I quit using bags for produce--I just put the produce in my basket or cart and then straight into the checkout bag on my way out of the store.
The exception is small loose produce like snap peas.
Ugh. That's a REALLY bad idea for anything that you don't thoroughly cook.
That's such an American fear.
Wash it (as you should anyways) and you'll be fine ...
Just wash some forever checmicals over the pesticides, that'll do the job. Jokes aside, i raw dog with a quick wash and im yet to have caught covid so it cant be that bad.
I always find it interesting when I visit Italy. The supermarkets there do sell some kind of dissenfectent for produce, and everyone is really strict about using gloves (this was even before COVID). My country has none of that...
It's really weird how some safety regulations differs between countries - sometimes the rules are even the exact opposite like washing eggs before sale in the US vs. EU.
Makes you wonder how much of it is actually based on any kind of rigorous science and how much is done just because someone thought it was a good idea once and now its just how we do things.
Unwashed produce has essentially zero risk of COVID. Other various bacterial contamination, yes, though it's very rare for those to do worse than give you an upset stomach or cause any lasting damage.
As someone who works in a market, eating anything without cooking or washing it first is a bad idea. Most of it is fine, but people are disgusting and there's no way of knowing how many people have touched your apple, if someone's kid managed to lick it without you noticing, or someone managed to push everything off the shelf onto the nonslip mat before they got stopped. Bagged produce can be even worse, given the amount of condensation inside the bag after it warms up on the loading dock and then sits in the cooler. The mister above the fresh greens and such doesn't do much and they regularly get touched and knocked out. The potatoes are probably the best, as the dirt on them is obvious.
If you live in an area with entitled people and spineless corporate rules that don't allow stores to confront people over pets, that's instantly worse than everything else combined. Pets like to lie on the floor, someone's dog has peed on the floor, 5 different random people have petted hugged or picked up that dog and 3 others since they left the house. One of those people is probably a cashier who then handles every item you've bought. And then someone inhaled pet hair and sneezed.
Sorry--I don't understand the risk. Are you concerned about germs? Pesticides? Other?
I hate to break it to you, but the loose produce in store isn't clean. That's why you must wash produce before you eat it.
Any washing you do to the produce at home has basically zero chance of killing/removing anything. It's hygiene theatre. People typically don't wash their produce in bleach or soap.
What are you basing this on? If I buy something like parsley and don't wash it then it tastes a bit like fly killer, but if I rinse it thoroughly then it doesn't. Is that just placebo?
Water is a great solvent! And, I'm sure you could use unscented soap if you wanted to. (I just use water)
Anyway, if water won't wash the food clean, then one may as well not shop at the grocery store.
I’m pretty sure I’d rather remove the dirt from my vegetables, but you do you.
You can also read the studies that show mechanical action (brushing, rubbing) under running water effectively reduces the bacteria count https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0362028X2...
It’ll never be sterile, but it doesn’t need to be for a healthy human. Probably shouldn’t be either.
That link makes my day and confirms so much I wondered about food cleanliness theater.
It's gross but I tend to leave a tiny bit of dirt on my potatoes. I think it's an emotional callback to your point that it might not be great for our food to be completely sterile.
Well, I use dishsoap