5 Tips To Disinfect Fruits and Vegetables Effectively
Fresh produce is usually in direct contact with various natural elements that aren’t entirely beneficial to a person’s health, such as bacteria and small organisms. One of the main purposes of fully cooking a meal is to prevent these organisms from entering the body. However, the process is different when you want to keep some elements fresh.
These tips for disinfecting fruits and vegetables effectively will help you achieve better practices and results to keep your family and you free from sickness. To enjoy a delicious meal, you must consider various factors, such as where the produce comes from, its active lifespan, and cleaning methods.
Wash Your Hands
Washing your hands with soap and water and finishing with hand sanitizer will ensure you don’t contaminate the fresh produce while handling it. You must wash your hands for at least 20 seconds, ideally with warm water. Doing this will eliminate foreign elements. Keep your fruits and vegetables in an assigned kitchen area at room temperature and handle them carefully to avoid cross-contamination.
Remove Damaged Parts
Sometimes, during transportation and rough handling, fresh produce could become damaged, developing bruises that minimize the health benefits of the fruit or vegetable. Removing the damaged part will stop the bruise from spreading and keep the produce fresh for longer before you eat it. Use a knife to remove the damaged area precisely so that you don’t harm the healthy parts.
Rinse Produce
Rinsing your produce will wash away most of the exterior elements that could harm your health if you ingest them. Even if the fruit or vegetable has a protective exterior, you may not want to eat that part. You can rinse it with water and then proceed to peel it. Cyclospora spreads in fresh produce easily, which is one of the reasons why you must pay special attention to the external layers.
Dry With Paper Towels
Using paper towels is a clean and safe way to dry fresh produce without risking contamination like you do with a dirty kitchen cloth. After rinsing with enough water, dry your fresh produce carefully and place it in a clean area where it’ll be ready for chopping or slicing. You can use clean bowls to sort out your different elements and mix them all together, especially if you’re making a salad or a side dish.
Avoid Detergents
Using soap or detergents to wash fruits and vegetables could cause the fresh produce to soak in some of those elements that could get into your system. Soap can cause diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting because it can lead to gastrointestinal distress. Some soaps are also toxic for human consumption; they do a good job at cleaning and killing bacteria, but your body won’t process them well. So an effective tip for disinfecting fruits and vegetables is to avoid detergents.
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