May 24, 2008 | Food & drink, Kitchen, Vinegar, Cleaning tips
There are all sorts of industrial methods to disinfect produce for food service programs, prepackaged produce, and the like. But what can we, as consumers, do to insure that the food we feed our families at home is free of contaminants and food-borne pathogens? We’ve found a number of studies that offer solutions to the problem, and you might be surprised how easy it is. Do you really want to use bleach or chlorinated products to clean your family’s fresh food? With all the negative effects of bleach (and not to mention its toxicity when swallowed), I’d rather avoid it. So the next question is, do you need to purchase a Veggie Wash to keep in stock in your kitchen? Perhaps not. Here are some ways to clean your fruits and veggies at home:
- Rubbing the produce with a wet or dry paper towel for 30 seconds actually removed most contaminants - including salmonella. Pretty simple, huh? This didn’t work so well for things like broccoli though (for obvious reasons - paper towels don’t penetrate well between the florets!).
- Reduction of contaminants was even better when a 4-step process was used: Wet with water, rub for 5 seconds, rinse with water, and dry with a paper towel.
- Vinegar helps with fruits and veggies that aren’t easy to rub - like cauliflower, broccoli, raspberries, you get it. The higher the concentration of vinegar to water the better, up to a 50/50 dilution - just be sure to rinse your fruits and veggies afterwards to get rid of the vinegar taste.
- Citric acid proved to be relatively effective as well, but I honestly don’t know anyone who keeps citric acid handy. Anybody?
Citric acid and vinegar were just as effective as store-bought veggie washes, but the rinsing/rubbing/rinsing process was more effective for most types of produce. So, spend the extra time to clean your lettuce leaves and apples, and buy organic when you can to reduce the added contaminants you’re bringing into your home.
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Karen (Pediascribe) says:
Is citric acid the ingredient in Fruit Fresh? I remember it was some sort of weak acid.
May 24th, 2008 at 8:33 amSteve Hengsperger says:
There is an even easier solution. Purchase the lotus Sanitizing System and just add cold tap water (municipally treated) The system has sensors built in and is EPA registered to kill 99.9% of bacteria and viruses…it even removes pesticides. Named one of Time Magazines Best Inventions it uses an FDA and USDA approved process that is already used commercially. This system is easy to use and will make your produce last up to four times as long…and no hand rubbing each individual raspberry!!
May 26th, 2008 at 8:05 am