Do you know what’s found on fruits and vegetables that you purchase at your grocery store and how to wash your fruits and vegetables properly?

Fresh fruits and vegetables can become contaminated in many ways. During the growing phase, produce may be contaminated by animals, harmful substances in the soil or water, and poor hygiene among workers. After fruits and vegetables are harvested, it passes through many hands, increasing the contamination risk. Contamination can even occur after the fruits and vegetables has been purchased, during food preparation, or due to inadequate storage.

Hence, it’s so important to wash the fresh fruits and vegetables adequately to remove germs and unwanted residues from their surfaces before consuming them.

Here Are 4 Tips To Wash Your Fruits And Vegetables Properly Before Consumption:

1. Wash Your Hands Before You Wash Your Fruits and Vegetables

The importance of washing hands to prevent the spread of Covid-19 cannot be emphasised enough. Even when you are going to rinse vegetables, you must ensure that your hands are clean as well!  Wash your hands for 20 seconds with warm water and soap before and after preparing fresh produce.

2. Wash Your Fruits and Vegetables with Fruit and Vegetable Rinse

Fruit and vegetable wash is basically hand soap for produce. While much of the fruits and vegetables available at the grocery store is rinsed, it’s rarely completely washed. Thus, your fruits and vegetables might contain bacteria like E. coli and salmonella crawling on your fruits and vegetables, and you plan to eat it raw, you could get sick. Fruits and vegetables with exposed edible skin like apples and cucumbers are also often treated with wax to increase their shelf life. While these wax are naturally occurring on produce and all used are technically food-grade, you still might not want to eat them. Vegetable wash cleans away all the grit and grime—significantly more than rinsing fruits and vegetables with water alone.

Wash away dirt, pesticides, waxy coatings, and other contaminants the safe, natural, and healthy way with Sunsmile^® Fruit & Vegetable rinse. Made from eco-friendly surfactants from corn and coconut, our super-concentrated, biodegradable rinse thoroughly cleans fruits and vegetables in minutes. SunSmile^® Fruit & Vegetable rinse is safe for your family and the environment, so you can enjoy peace of mind along with cleaner, brighter, tastier produce.

3. Use a Brush or Sponge If Necessary

The same principle applies to fruits and vegetables as it does to handwashing: you need to dislodge any bacteria or pesticides that are lingering on the surface, and the best way to do that is through friction. Take a vegetable brush or sponge to clean root vegetables like potatoes or carrots, and scrub firm produce such as melons and cucumbers to ensure all dirt is removed. Whereas for loose fruits such as berries or grapes, wash it with the Fruit & Vegetable rinse and run it under warm water before draining it in a colander. When you’re ready to serve or prepare, transfer them to clean bowls or cookware.

4. Dry Off Your Fruits and Vegetables with a Cloth

After you wash your fruits and vegetables thoroughly, avoid recontaminating your food and dry by cleaning the fruits and vegetables with a clean cloth towel or disposable paper towel to further reduce the risk of bacterial or viral transmission from a dirty surface onto your ready-to-eat fruit or veggie!