Is it necessary to wash fresh food before eating or cooking it? It all depends on what that produce is and where it came from.
Each year in Australia, there are around four million cases of food poisoning, causing an average of one million GP visits, 31,000 hospitalisations and 86 deaths.
Produce can become contaminated with dangerous bacteria, parasites and viruses at any step along the journey from farm to plate. Although there are rigorous food safety standards in place for fresh produce supply chains, it’s impossible to catch every germ.
Bugs can be picked up via contaminated water or soil on a farm, contaminated processing lines at a food plant or unsafe food handling practices at a supermarket.
Which is why it’s a good idea to wash most fresh food before preparing – but not everything.
When you should wash food
For the most part, it’s a good idea to wash fresh fruits and vegetables before eating or cooking them. These foods are grown in soil, which depending on the region can harbour all kinds of bacteria and parasites.
It’s very important to wash any fruits or vegetables that are grown directly in the ground, such as potatoes and melons. The porous skin of melons such as cantaloupe is particularly good at drawing in nasty micro-organisms from the soil it grows in.
The Australian Institute of Food Safety recommends rinsing fresh fruits and vegetables under plain running water for at least 20 seconds each. It might seem obvious, but do NOT use any soaps or detergents.
For firmer produce such as apples or carrots, you can use a vegetable brush to remove any dirt or other contaminants.
Dry the produce on a clean plate or sheet of paper towel. Place peeled or cut fruits and vegetables on a separate clean plate or paper towel to prevent them from becoming cross-contaminated.
When not to wash food
It’s a bad idea to rinse fresh meat of any kind before cooking it. This is because fresh meat is naturally covered in bacteria, which will be transferred to your hands and sink by the water. From there, it’s easy for the bacteria to pass to plates, bowls and utensils as you handle them.
Washing meat spreads bacteria unnecessarily. It’s much safer to cook the bacteria away and not spread germs around your kitchen. Cooking meat at 75°C or higher will ensure any bacteria will be safely dealt with.
Eggs should also not be washed before preparation. The outer surface of a chicken’s egg is covered in a substance known as bloom. This waxy substance keeps bacteria out of the tiny pores on the shell while the chick grows.
Commercial egg produces clean eggs in a way that keeps this bloom intact. So, rinsing eggs under water before cooking them doesn’t get rid of germs – it lets more of them in.
Canned vegetables also generally don’t need to be washed before consuming, but doing so can reduce their salt content. For example, a can of undrained kidney beans has roughly 327 milligrams of sodium on average. If you rinse and drain them, this falls to 164 milligrams.
Do you regularly wash fruit and vegetables before preparing them? Have you ever experienced food poisoning at home? Let us know in the comments section below.
Also read: How fibre could save your brain
