cleaning vegetables

[susan]

Hi friends,

I’m going to be travelling in Mexico and, unlike previous visits, can’t rely on packaged or cooked food. I will need to eat raw vegetables and fruit, probably unpeeled.

This being the case, what’s my best low-tech strategy for avoiding both disease (e.g., e coli, Hepatitis A) and pesticides? I am open both to information about most-sprayed and least-cleaned produce, plus cleaning strategies.

Gracias!

[Duck_Duck_Goose]

Pesticides are the least of your worries, IMO. Plain and simple dysentery (“Montezuma’s revenge” or “traveler’s diarrhea”) is the biggie, with salmonella, E.coli, hepatitis, and other things like campylobacter right up there with it (see the scary EU document linked below for a complete list of all the ghastly things that can infest produce–after reading it, I’ve sworn a solemn vow to eat only canned fruits and veggies. And boil them first.)

So, strategies? Take along a large-economy sized jug of some kind of powerful disinfecting substance, and be religious about using it.

http://www.azcentral.com/home/food/articles/1127safeveggies27-CR.html

In Mexico, restaurants and consumers routinely soak vegetables in disinfectant. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration discourages such practices in America, in part, because of concerns about ingesting soaps and disinfectants. The FDA simply recommends washing with cold water. But while thorough washing does help, there remains no way of making sure that green onions, alfalfa sprouts or leafy vegetables are disease-free.

http://www.toursinmexico.com/general/groceries.htm

Always wash, then soak in water containing 8 drops of iodine solution or 1 capful of bleach, for 30 minutes.

If you peel it before eating, you are safe.
If you cook it before eating you are safe.

If you want to eat it fresh, choose only unblemished items, and ALWAYS go through the wash/soak process.

http://www.best-mexico-travel.com/travel/Staying_Healthy.php

soak fruits and vegetables that cannot be peeled in a disinfectant solution.

You can buy small bottles of disinfectant drops at any local drugstore. They are based on silver or iodine, and the instructions for dilution are given on the bottle. “Gotas” means drops, “litros de agua” is litres of water, and “dejar por “X” minutos” tells you how many minutes to let it soak.

These disinfectant solutions are also good for disinfecting water for drinking. The solution is weaker than for disinfecting fruits and vegetables.

However, I also found this scary document.

Page 4.
http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sc/scf/out125_en.pdf

Although a wide range of different agents is available for disinfecting/sanitizing fresh produce, their efficacy is variable and none are able to ensure elimination of pathogens.

See Page 21 for more on post-harvest washing and decontamination.

[gcarroll]

*Originally posted by Shoshana *
Hi friends,
…I will need to eat raw vegetables and fruit, probably unpeeled.
…

Ummm
Why? Can you not peel them?

[susan]

I could peel some of them them, but I’d prefer not to. I don’t generally peel vegetables, so I’d rather find effective ways of cleaning them.

[TeaElle]

Peel the stinking fruits and vegetables. Preferences shouldn’t take precedence over your health.

[susan]

Peel the stinking fruits and vegetables.

I really don’t think a hostile attitude is necessary. I’m asking for assistance and information.

Preferences shouldn’t take precedence over your health.

Right, that’s why I’m asking for assistance with disinfecting, or suggestions about specific fruits and vegetables that are more risky. If I wanted to avoid disease at all costs, I’d bring canned food from the US. That’s not how I prefer to travel.