Citrus?

[Skywalker]

Hey, just wondering on the whole listeria hysteria hub-bub, do I need to rinse my mandarins before I eat them? They've been sitting next to me on my desk at work for the last hour and I want to devour some but don't know if I need to go wash the heck out of them?? They were imported to NZ from Australia so have been sprayed with whatever they spray stuff with when it comes into NZ.

 

[Brieanna]

I wash every fruit and vegetable (even bananas and onions!) I eat with vinegar or other wash, even if I am going to peel it because if there is something bad on it then it could pas from your hand to the fruit inside or from the knife as you slice through the peel to get to the fruit.

Last year a bunch of people got sick and some died from eating cantaloupe that they didn't wash before slicing. It was on the outside and it contaminated the inside.

A lot of people probably wouldn't bother, but I would say, especially from your other posts about food safety, that you personally would feel better about eating it if you washed it first.

 

[Skywalker]

I wash every fruit and vegetable (even bananas and onions!) I eat with vinegar or other wash, even if I am going to peel it because if there is something bad on it then it could pas from your hand to the fruit inside or from the knife as you slice through the peel to get to the fruit.

Last year a bunch of people got sick and some died from eating cantaloupe that they didn't wash before slicing. It was on the outside and it contaminated the inside.

A lot of people probably wouldn't bother, but I would say, especially from your other posts about food safety, that you personally would feel better about eating it if you washed it first.

Thanks so much for this! I have some apple cider vinegar in my fridge, but I don't yet have any other type of antibacterial soap that I could wash my fruits and veggies in. Is it okay to soak in the apple cider vinegar then rinse vigorously? So much extra work! GAH! Lol

I SOOOO wish a company existed where you could call them up and order the most outrageous craving foods or even normal foods like fruits and veggies and they'd make sure everything was safe for a pregnant woman to eat and wash everything properly before delivering AND deliver it at any time of day or night. This place needs to exist lol.

 

[xdxxtx]

I ALWAYS rinse off my produce, soak it in white distilled vinegar and water for like 15 mins, scrub a little and then rinse well again. I am a complete nut about it, but I went to culinary school and spent a semester learning about how everything you eat can kill you. Lol. So I go all out, even when I'm not pregnant. The apple cider vinegar does the same job, but white is just cheaper, and I use it for everything so I buy jugs of it at a time.

 

[little moomin]

I guess Im the opposite, I've never washed anything except apples etc that go straight in the mouth. You can catch anything from anywhere so for me there's a reasonable level of commitment. I do believe in having a healthy level of germs (in general, not particularly welcoming of Listeria) and worry a bit about slightly hysterical cleanliness (a friend puts bleach in her dishwater and Milton to shore Veg and napisan in every wash i worry for her childrens immune systems). So all in all eat the mandarins, if it will keep you awake at night wash them too

 

[emalou90]

I've never thought of things spreading from the outside to the inside before but could happen!
I always thought of bananas and mandarins as safe little cases for the yummy fruit inside.
I'll still think like that, but I never wash fruit. Apart from grapes, no idea why I wash them really. I wash veggies.

Recently ate an apple that lived at the bottom of my bag all day, with pens, letters, my purse, probably some crumbs. Haha. Living on the edge!