Washing vegetables and fruits seems like an easy task to do. Just open the taps and place the fruits under cold running water and they are good to peel, right? Wrong. Foods are different. Both fruits and vegetables have different skins, they all can't be washed in the same way. That's right, despite what mum said, she might actually have been wrong on this one.
Before food gets to the dinner table, it undergoes a number of processes. From the farm onto the homes of millions of Americans, food is exposed to plenty of avenues where it may be contaminated. Each year, millions of people are contaminated by food. According to the United States Food and Drug Administration, 48 million people are sickened by contaminated food each year. Many times, the source of the outbreak is produce. Millions of people wash their food all wrong, and those are just the ones who go out of their way to wash the food. Many more are unaware or negligent of the fact that food should be washed before consumption.
As a rule, always wash your hands with soap before washing food. Almost all produce can be washed under cold running water. Produce that is either firm or thick skinned should be gently scrubbed with a soft brush to help clear away the hard to remove microbes in hard to reach places. Then once the produce is clean, dry it with a towel or paper towel.
A few fruits and vegetables are washed differently.
!. Avocado
The avocado's skin can harbor millions of harmful bacteria that can contaminate your knife as you cut. Rinse the skin and scrub with a brush gently before cutting.
2. Apples
The stem of an apple can trap millions of germs and bacteria. Be sure to trim both ends of the apple after washing it under cold water.
3. Brocolli and cauliflower
Both these vegetables have a lot of crevices where germs can hide. To properly wash them, soak broccoli and cauliflower in a bowl of warm or cold water for two minutes. Afterwards, rinse them in cold running water.
