Is it necessary to rinse fruits and veggies?
It typically takes a long process before fruits and vegetables reach the grocery store shelves.
Crops are at a high risk of being exposed to dirt and bacteria when transferred from farms to markets and displayed publicly for sale.
As a result, consumers have made it a habit to wash fruits and vegetables before eating or preparing them to avoid consuming contaminated goods.
Dirt and germs, however, are not the only culprits. Fruits and vegetables may also contain tiny insects that are not usually noticed by shoppers.
Several videos on the internet show strawberries carrying little fruit flies (known as spotted wing drosophila) that appear after fruits are soaked in saltwater.
Although these insects may be disgusting to look at or even think about, experts believe they are not a cause for alarm. There has been no evidence that insects are dangerous to people.
Scientists say that there will always be some amount of microorganisms that make it past the rinse process, and no amount of washing will be able to get rid of them all.
Although washing fruits and vegetables under running water greatly reduces levels of harmful bacteria on their surface, further precautions can be taken to minimize the risk of bacterial contamination.
There's no need to use anything other than water when cleaning fruits and vegetables. Health officials also do not recommend the use of any cleaning products.
Cooking is another method for killing pathogens found in raw vegetables or fruits.
Francisco Diez, director of the Center for Food Safety and a professor at the University of Georgia, said that the majority of the fruits and veggies are safe for consumption.
This food safety concern is important, but aside from making sure that we wash our produce, we must not forget to consume an adequate amount of it also to fully harness their health benefits.