# I rarely wash fruits and veggies before consuming them. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 25, 2010, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-rarely-wash-fruits-and-veggies-before-consuming-them/537331 "2010-04-25T20:34:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-rarely-wash-fruits-and-veggies-before-consuming-them/537331/21 "2010-04-26T07:09:51Z")
> [@lazybratsche](#): > > …all of the pesticides and fertilizers that might be a problem on your produce are nicely water soluble … I don’t think that’s true. Some of the more common garden insecticides are applied in emulsion with water - but that’s not the same as the active ingredients being soluble or washable (not to mention that they often claim that rain won’t wash them off quickly) ---
**Author:** ![Weedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/weedy/32/301_2.png) [@Weedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weedy)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-rarely-wash-fruits-and-veggies-before-consuming-them/537331/22 "2010-04-26T09:53:48Z")
Some pesticides are formulated to be absorbed by the plant. Washing will not remove them. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-rarely-wash-fruits-and-veggies-before-consuming-them/537331/23 "2010-04-26T11:22:37Z")
After I saw a sweet old lady drool onto a pile of green peppers at the grocer I always lightly wash produce before we eat it. I also rinse off sodapop cans and any other cans/bottles that have been sitting out in the dust of the store before I put it to my mouth. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-rarely-wash-fruits-and-veggies-before-consuming-them/537331/24 "2010-04-26T12:39:23Z")
Lenny Bruce, in his autobiography, recounted his memories of working on a Long Island produce farm and watching the other field hands pissing on the produce. He said he would never eat vegetables without rinsing them again. This was in the 1930s, but… ---
**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-rarely-wash-fruits-and-veggies-before-consuming-them/537331/25 "2010-04-26T12:45:06Z")
My brother worked in the produce department during high school and told us to always wash produce. There are still pesticides and dead bugs on the vegies and fruit among other things. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-rarely-wash-fruits-and-veggies-before-consuming-them/537331/26 "2010-04-26T13:21:01Z")
> [@lazybratsche](#): > > A water rinse will remove most of all those. How do you know that? ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-rarely-wash-fruits-and-veggies-before-consuming-them/537331/27 "2010-04-26T13:22:01Z")
Most people don’t have any clue that food might be the culprit when they spend a day or so in bed with a fever, between frequent trips to the bathroom. I’d bet that most people who claim to have never been sick from eating contaminated vegetables just don’t know what they’re talking about. They’ve just got a 24-hour flu, don’t you know? “I ain’t dead yet, yuk, yuk, yuk…” ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-rarely-wash-fruits-and-veggies-before-consuming-them/537331/28 "2010-04-26T13:27:52Z")
Are you folks talking about washing strawberries and raspberries? They’re not worth eating afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-rarely-wash-fruits-and-veggies-before-consuming-them/537331/29 "2010-04-26T13:44:31Z")
I never did until I watched a guy in a market eating cherries and spitting the pits back into the cherry bin. Even then, I was hit or miss on doing it. Our three years in Africa made it routine. If you don’t dip your veggies in a diluted bleach wash in that part of the world, you’re in for some very unpleasant times. We don’t still do it here, but we do wash them. I also rinse off chicken parts and chunks of meat, although after watching “Food, Inc.”, I may go back to dipping in bleach. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-rarely-wash-fruits-and-veggies-before-consuming-them/537331/30 "2010-04-26T14:57:00Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > Yeah, well, I don’t wash supermarket produce either and I’m 63. So I guess I am also a freak of nature and a miracle? I guess I have not poisoned any of my guests either. Must be even more of a miracle. You realize that the people who have died a gruesome death from not washing thier fruits and veggies are not going to be posting thier expeirances here don’t you? 😃 But count me among the great unwashed. I figure if it doesn’t kill me it makes me stronger. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-rarely-wash-fruits-and-veggies-before-consuming-them/537331/31 "2010-04-26T15:13:19Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > Lenny Bruce, in his autobiography, recounted his memories of working on a Long Island produce farm and watching the other field hands pissing on the produce. He said he would never eat vegetables without rinsing them again. This was in the 1930s, but… Isn’t urine largely sterile? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-rarely-wash-fruits-and-veggies-before-consuming-them/537331/32 "2010-04-26T15:18:23Z")
> [@sqweels](#): > > Isn’t urine largely sterile? Up until it leaves the body, yes, but that doesn’t mean things that were urinated on yesterday are safe or clean today. I think some of the components of urine are probably quite desirable to bacteria. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-rarely-wash-fruits-and-veggies-before-consuming-them/537331/33 "2010-04-26T15:27:57Z")
I wash all the produce before it goes into the refrigerator. I have to. If I don’t, it just haunts me that germy dirty lettuce or apples are in the refrigerator. I don’t care if it does or does not wash off germs and poison, if I SEE water flowing over a piece of fruit, I picture all the bad stuff just washing off and I feel better. Besides, think of all the grubby e. coli ridden hands feeling all the tomatoes on the shelf at the market, looking for a ‘good one’ - that tomato you bring home has to be washed! ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-rarely-wash-fruits-and-veggies-before-consuming-them/537331/34 "2010-04-26T16:59:45Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > … if I SEE water flowing over a piece of fruit, I picture all the bad stuff just washing off and I feel better. I use The Force to kill bacteria on my vegetables. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-rarely-wash-fruits-and-veggies-before-consuming-them/537331/35 "2010-04-26T17:05:08Z")
> [@chela](#): > > After I saw a sweet old lady drool onto a pile of green peppers at the grocer I always lightly wash produce before we eat it. I also rinse off sodapop cans and any other cans/bottles that have been sitting out in the dust of the store before I put it to my mouth. I do that routinely, too. They’re not always super dusty, but sometimes they are. Cans have often been sitting around everywhere, collecting everything, then you pop that top and dump everything on the top of the can into your drink or into your mouth. ---
**Author:** ![filling\_pages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9bd4f/32.png) [@filling\_pages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filling_pages)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-rarely-wash-fruits-and-veggies-before-consuming-them/537331/36 "2010-04-26T17:17:15Z")
I had a landlord for a while that was going through various medical tests because of a bad stomach/bowel problem. It turned out he’d picked something up from the manure found on unwashed, organic produce. That’s when I got pickier about it. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-rarely-wash-fruits-and-veggies-before-consuming-them/537331/37 "2010-04-26T17:21:29Z")
> [@janeslogin](#): > > Some of us older curmudgeons have joked about the washing of root vegetables when we were kids. We would be sent to the garden to harvest carrots for dinner. We would wipe some of the dirt off a fine carrot and eat it in the garden while gathering other vegetables. But once the carrot was inside the kitchen it was insisted that it must be washed and peeled. > > Why? A dozen 70 year old persons I have talked to know of the experience but don’t know why a it is alright to eat a dirty carrot in the garden but not in the house. > > I started a thread about this once on [Gardenweb.com](http://Gardenweb.com). Some younger persons are familiar with the curiosity. A coworker…who had moved to the U.S. from Italy almost had a heart attack when we were walking along and I grabbed some fruit from a bush in my hand and then ate it. WTFFAYDYI (what the ff are you doing you idiot!). I looked at him. Those could be poisionous he almost yells. No, I said, I’ve been eating that fruit since I was a kid. It’s DIRTY! 😕 I am… ---
**Author:** ![fifty-six](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@fifty-six](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fifty-six)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-rarely-wash-fruits-and-veggies-before-consuming-them/537331/38 "2010-04-26T17:35:02Z")
I have worked in restaurants for many years. I am a certified food safety manager and hold a few other certifications. I have seen countless food handling inspectors in several states. Some of the rules are so overreaching and almost overly safe especially in remote work camps. I have not come across any RULES about washing produce except for having a separate washing sink in some kitchens to avoid **adding** contaminates during the washing process. I worked in over 20 restaurants. Certain things get washed some things no so much. ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-rarely-wash-fruits-and-veggies-before-consuming-them/537331/39 "2010-04-26T18:07:34Z")
After watching my dog pee on **Renee’s** lettuce garden Saturday, you betcha! ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2010, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-rarely-wash-fruits-and-veggies-before-consuming-them/537331/40 "2010-04-26T18:07:49Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#): > > organic food [is not pesticide-free](http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/organic.html) Why is that? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-rarely-wash-fruits-and-veggies-before-consuming-them/537331.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-rarely-wash-fruits-and-veggies-before-consuming-them/537331.md?page=3)