Incorporating fruits and vegetables in our diet is essential to our overall health especially that we are continuously battling with the current pandemic. However, it is also important to select and prepare them safely. Sometimes, raw fruits and vegetables may contain harmful germs that can make you and your family sick, such as Salmonella, E. coli, and Listeria. CDC estimates that germs on fresh produce cause a large percentage of U.S. foodborne illnesses.
Food can become contaminated at any point from production to consumption. While the primary food safety responsibility lies with food producers, many food-borne diseases are caused by improperly prepared or mishandled food at home, in food service establishments, markets or even in the farms. Everyone is at risk of food-borne illness from contaminated or dirty food, but some people are at higher risk. These people include the elderly, people with chronic diseases, people with autoimmune disorders, children under 5 years of age and pregnant women.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommends several ways you can take to help prevent food-borne illness when eating fresh fruits and vegetables. First, when buying fruits and vegetables in the store or market, make sure to choose produce that isn’t bruised or damaged. Keep pre-cut fruits and vegetables cold by choosing produce that is refrigerated or kept on ice. Separate fruits and vegetables from raw meat, poultry, and seafood in your shopping cart and in your grocery bags.
At home, make sure to wash your hands, kitchen utensils, and food preparation surfaces, including chopping boards and countertops, before and after preparing fruits and vegetables. Clean fruits and vegetables before eating, cutting, or cooking, unless the package says the contents have been washed but still better be sure. Washing is not that tiresome after all. Washing them under running water is, most of the time, advisable—even if you do not plan to eat the peel. This is because germs on the peel or skin can get inside fruits and vegetables when you cut them.
Washing fruits and vegetables with soap, detergent, or commercial produce wash is not recommended as to date. If there are any damages or bruised areas, you should cut it away before preparing or eating. Dry fruit or vegetables with a clean paper towel. It is also highly recommended to separate fruits and vegetables from raw foods that come from animals, such as meat, poultry, and seafood. Lastly as it is attractable to germs and other environmental contaminants, refrigerate fruits and vegetables within 2 hours after you cut, peel, or cook them (or 1 hour if the outside temperature is 90° or warmer). Chill them at 40°F or colder in a clean container.
Always bear in mind that the safest products are those washed and cooked; the next safest are those washed even eaten raw. We can enjoy uncooked fruits and vegetables while taking steps to avoid foodborne illness. As the World Health organization said, “food safety is everyone’s business and responsibility”, therefore, we will not just keep it up to the government or food producers to take action because in the end we are the ones that will suffer. Let us all work together to make sure that our food is, and remains, safe at all times.
PNC-ZDS Marie Claire A. Gaas
References:
- How to ensure fruits and vegetables safety?
Center for Disease Control and Prevention
https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/communication/steps-healthy-fruits-veggies.html
- Who is at risk for food-borne illness?
https://www.healthlinkbc.ca/healthlinkbc-files/food-safety-fruits-vegetables
- Food safety is everybody’s responsibility
https://www.who.int/philippines/news/commentaries/detail/food-safety-is-everybody-s-responsibility