How to Sanitize & Wash Fruits and Vegetables Properly (Including Using Baking Soda) video.

How to Sanitize & Wash Fruits and Vegetables Properly (Including Using Baking Soda) Natural Health Remedies
The new coronavirus pandemic has raised a lot of pressing questions about things that used to seem pretty set in stone. When it comes washing fruits and vegetables, for instance, what used to be a simple question of cleanliness has taken on a new level of importance. We know that coronavirus appears to spread mainly through respiratory droplets from people who have the infection. But we also know it’s possible to pick it up by touching contaminated objects and then touching your face. Those facts can make the produce section of the grocery store somewhat nerve-racking. In this video, we’ve broken down how to wash fruit and vegetables to stay as safe as possible right now. So exactly How big is the danger? There is currently no evidence of food or food packaging being linked with cases of COVID-19. There’s also evidence that COVID-19 tends to have poor survivability on surfaces overall. This translates into a very low risk of getting the new coronavirus from food or food packaging that is shipped over days or weeks at normal, refrigerated, or frozen temperatures. Still, with so many unknowns circulating along with the virus, it’s understandable if you feel like taking some extra precautions and want to know how to wash fruit and vegetables as well as you can. And that’s fine—washing fruit and vegetables was a recommended practice even before this pandemic because your produce can come into contact with a lot of stuff before it winds up at home with you. The biggest threat from your food produce isn’t coronavirus – it’s the various pathogens that can cause foodborne illness. It’s estimated that every year, around 48 million people in the U.S. contract foodborne illnesses from products contaminated with pathogens like salmonella, E. coli, listeria, norovirus, and hepatitis A. The good news is that there are standards in place to minimize the number of pathogens entering the produce system, but it’s still a good idea to wash your fruit and veggies before eating them. So Is rinsing your fruit and vegetables enough? According to experts, washing your produce with water is usually enough to remove the majority of stray pathogens, and even so, consuming something with a few germs on it likely won’t make most people sick. Unless someone is immune-compromised, the human body can generally do a good job of dealing with a few unsavoury microbes here and there. Rinsing your produce will also remove any pesticide residue that remains on your fruit and vegetables in non-threatening amounts. Let’s cover the best way to wash fruit and vegetables 1. Wash your hands First things first, before you do anything with your produce, make sure to wash your hands for at least 20 seconds following these steps. Whatever microbes are present on your hands will easily be transferred to the food you are preparing unless you wash them first. 2. Wash your produce under running water Now that your hands are washed, rinsing produce with running water and rubbing it with your hands is good enough to clean the majority of fruit and vegetables enough to eat. In most cases, that’s enough to get rid of 90 to 99 percent of the microbes present. There's no need to whip up a vinegar wash or waste money on a fancy produce spray. In fact, the FDA actually does not recommend using any kind of soaps, detergents, or special washes to clean produce. It’s simply not necessary. 3. Don’t forget about produce with peels Even though it may not seem like you need to wash produce with hard exteriors or peels, like melons, pineapples, and oranges, you actually should. When you cut into these items, you can push microbes from the surface into the part of the produce that you’re going to eat. So, always wash hard-skinned produce or anything with a peel before you start peeling or cutting it. 4. Use baking soda if you wish If cold water just doesn’t sound like enough to you, then an extra step would be a baking soda bath. A recent study has found that a baking soda soak is the most effective method of removing pesticide residue from apples, even when compared to Clorox bleach – which should obviously not be used on food. To do a baking soda bath, clean and sanitize your kitchen sink, and then fill it with cold water. Next, add a teaspoon of baking soda, then submerge your fruits and vegetables to the bath and let them soak for 12 to 15 minutes, then scrub harder items and those with rinds with a vegetable brush. Thoroughly dry all items before eating. 5. Consider washing your ready-to-eat produce You don't technically need to worry about washing any prewashed ready-to-eat produce. But if you decide to go for it because you’re taking an abundance of caution right now, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t.

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