how do you wash fruits and vegetables?

[Kitsune]

If the beef was bad, I would have smelled it, but it looked OK and actually by mistake it was complete well done.

After all this time you are still clueless!

No cooking or sniff check will prevent you from having diarrhea from eating beef !

This is about chicken phosphate which is forbidden in EUROPE only

Here you have phosphate on beef (to prevent product shrinkage). Not only it stiffens your arteries but it multiply by MILLIONS the numbers of bacterias such as Ecoli and Ccolis, causing thousands of food poisoning.

[shaurene]

Washing with vinegar is a good way to remove at least some of the pesticide residue which frankly concerns me a lot more than bacteria. Need to do it so that the produce floats in the vinegar + water a bit. Then drain and rinse again.

From what you describe I don't think washing procedures had anything at all to do with your diarrhea . Rather, I think it was the paprika that was "a bit out of shape with more "wrinkles" than normal." It had gone bad, and no amount of washing - which only affects the outside of the fruit - will change that.

Most

Sorry....I didn't explain clear. Not wrinkles from getting old. It was fresh, but lot more curved/bent inside surface than usual for a Paprika. A freakish Paprika. So I may didn't clean the "pockets" on the surface.

While fresh it was packed in a plastic bag which is of course perfect for breeding bacteria...

Both fruits were organic so I hope that at least there are less pesticides on it. But of course even a honest organic supplier can't check every farmer and every fruit....

Most exported fresh fruit/veggies are sprayed to give them longer shipping time. But ye good amount viniger in water to wash and then wash again with bottled water.

I also steam my veggies. With the apple peel it.

[stoli]

Paprika is a spice. When they make it they air dry the peppers. Maybe the Bell pepper had been in the fridge and became contaminated by coming into contact with meat or whatever.I buy the Bell peppers here all the time and somtimes I eat them wrinkeled...super healthy food.

no meat and vegetables are separate in the fridge. I shouldn't have cut the paprika with the same knife than the meat, but of course can't exclude it 100%.

It was relative fresh beef, which I would have eaten raw (and did many times in Europe) as well if not someone in the forum had told me to not do that in Thailand. So I doubt that only a knife cut could cause such dramatic effects. But who knows maybe I am wrong on that.

After owning a restaurant in the US for 7 years, please, please never use the same knife to cut meat and vegetables. Also, there is so much bacteria in the water here, I always used filtered water for any of my food products. It is cheap, and keeps you healthy. Other than that, you will get the "runs" here. I trust it to clean myself out. Never forget though that even the rain water here is filled with bacteria. In the states, we would drink it, but not here. Treat is like a poison.

[Issangeorge]

Washing with vinegar is a good way to remove at least some of the pesticide residue which frankly concerns me a lot more than bacteria. Need to do it so that the produce floats in the vinegar + water a bit. Then drain and rinse again.

Sheryl, what kind of concentration of vinegar in the water? X vinegar to Y water???

I read somewhere three water to one vinegar.

you can drastically reduce your exposure to pesticides and bacteria found on produce with a thorough vinegar and water wash. Experts found that a white vinegar and water wash kills 98% of bacteria and removes pesticides.

Edited June 17, 2015 by Issangeorge

[stoli]

Quote from the OP "yesterday I ate"

Meaning in the DAY before he ate ....

He does not say " yesterday I ONLY ate". Yesterday, I took a nap. That doesn't mean that is all I did.....

[MaeJoMTB]

It was the tap water that gave you the runs.

When I lived in Egypt, you never ate the salads, cos they were always washed in tap water, and your bum would explode.

[h90]

If the beef was bad, I would have smelled it, but it looked OK and actually by mistake it was complete well done.

After all this time you are still clueless!

No cooking or sniff check will prevent you from having diarrhea from eating beef !

This is about chicken phosphate which is forbidden in EUROPE only

Here you have phosphate on beef (to prevent product shrinkage). Not only it stiffens your arteries but it multiply by MILLIONS the numbers of bacterias such as Ecoli and Ccolis, causing thousands of food poisoning.

I admit I didn't know that...well I am European. I know phosphates are used in sausages, but there are already much better additives. If smart enough you can increase even a ham by 100 % or more in weight and with some other chemicals (MSG is a must, but there are others as well) and it still tastes somehow similar.

On the ham, if it is very wet and slimy surface and it was done+they don't have full under control. But almost every ham has it so people are used to it.

But to do it on meat is complete new for me.

Thanks!

[muskoka]

Fruit & Vegetable Wash

Meat & Poultry Cleaner

http://www.thai-herbs-chiangmai.com/other.html

[MrBrad]

If you ever want an eye-opener, get yourself out of town when the local farmers are harvesting fruits and vegetables. For as picture-perfect as everything looks on the vender's display shelves, you'd be shocked--shocked--to see that not too infrequently the produce is washed (!) immediately along side the klong. The harvesters will set up a slightly elaborate system of pvc with spigots, pump the water directly out of the klong, and spray the picked crops with that filthy water. The result is a clean-looking appearance. However, beauty, in this case, is not even skin deep.

On a related note, I don't go in for the special fruit and vegetable wash products. I don't know if they're any better than my liquid soap for dishes. The dish soap is safe and suitable for plates, glasses, and silverware, so I figure it should be safe for cleaning apples, potatoes, and other foods that I feel need washing.

By the way, after a banana has been removed from the peeling, how do you touch it without contaminating the fruit? I realize that you can eat a banana as you peel it, thus never having to touch the fruit. But say, if you were ordering a dessert at Dairy Queen or Swenson's, for example, how many eager germs get passed from the outside of the banana to the part that is in our banana split? Not that I'm going to stop eating banana splits or any of the other hundreds of desserts made with bananas, but I've always wondered--maybe too hypochonriacally--about this.

[chatette]

A tiny pinch of potassium permanganate, or Condy's Crystals, eliminates pesticide residue and destroys bacteria from fruit and vegetables.

It's very cheap and much more effective than vinegar.

Should find in aquarium supplier or gardening shop as also used to clean water for fish tanks and eliminate pests from plants.

I have in tiny bottles that I got when I lived in India, where you have to clean everything really well.

This site concisely explains benefits and how to use:

http://www.livestrong.com/article/303623-potassium-permanganate-to-wash-vegetables/

[xen]

Paprika is a spice. When they make it they air dry the peppers. Maybe the Bell pepper had been in the fridge and became contaminated by coming into contact with meat or whatever.I buy the Bell peppers here all the time and somtimes I eat them wrinkeled...super healthy food.

no meat and vegetables are separate in the fridge. I shouldn't have cut the paprika with the same knife than the meat, but of course can't exclude it 100%.

It was relative fresh beef, which I would have eaten raw (and did many times in Europe) as well if not someone in the forum had told me to not do that in Thailand. So I doubt that only a knife cut could cause such dramatic effects. But who knows maybe I am wrong on that.

After owning a restaurant in the US for 7 years, please, please never use the same knife to cut meat and vegetables. Also, there is so much bacteria in the water here, I always used filtered water for any of my food products. It is cheap, and keeps you healthy. Other than that, you will get the "runs" here. I trust it to clean myself out. Never forget though that even the rain water here is filled with bacteria. In the states, we would drink it, but not here. Treat is like a poison.

Very true Stoli . Also having run Thai Restaurants in Oz and doing a food hygiene certificate, one thing you get taught is you never use the same cutting board for the different food groups to avoid cross contamination , All cutting boards will have cuts that can harbour nasties so there is a colour coded standard and you do not use a cutting board that has been used for cutting poultry and use it for vegetable processing. In theory i suppose you could sterilize the cutting boards after each use but in reality it never happens,

Also a pet hate of mine was when the Thai staff would leave sponges and washing cloths soaking in detergent and water . Not only would they stink but it was never hygienic.

The colour coded chart

[kaorop]

The water/vinegar soak ... do you use tap water?

I reckon restaurants don't bother with any of that, right?

No i think so, so i dont eat the un cooked stuff.

I rinse once or twice, then blanch in salted water for 15 mins (rather time and resource consuming)

Besides the pesticides they use formaldehyde to prolong shelf life too!

[h90]

If you ever want an eye-opener, get yourself out of town when the local farmers are harvesting fruits and vegetables. For as picture-perfect as everything looks on the vender's display shelves, you'd be shocked--shocked--to see that not too infrequently the produce is washed (!) immediately along side the klong. The harvesters will set up a slightly elaborate system of pvc with spigots, pump the water directly out of the klong, and spray the picked crops with that filthy water. The result is a clean-looking appearance. However, beauty, in this case, is not even skin deep.

On a related note, I don't go in for the special fruit and vegetable wash products. I don't know if they're any better than my liquid soap for dishes. The dish soap is safe and suitable for plates, glasses, and silverware, so I figure it should be safe for cleaning apples, potatoes, and other foods that I feel need washing.

By the way, after a banana has been removed from the peeling, how do you touch it without contaminating the fruit? I realize that you can eat a banana as you peel it, thus never having to touch the fruit. But say, if you were ordering a dessert at Dairy Queen or Swenson's, for example, how many eager germs get passed from the outside of the banana to the part that is in our banana split? Not that I'm going to stop eating banana splits or any of the other hundreds of desserts made with bananas, but I've always wondered--maybe too hypochonriacally--about this.

thx

[lvr181]

It was the tap water that gave you the runs.

When I lived in Egypt, you never ate the salads, cos they were always washed in tap water, and your bum would explode.

I say AGAIN - Boil the water first and then wash fruit and vegetable in it when cooled!!

[Issangeorge]

I use the large jugs of waters that are delivered daily wash my vegetables in a mixture of one part vinegar three parts water. Take the vegetables out of that wash and wash in the jug water and then I'm done.

[Sheryl]

to be exact: I has 2 or 3 small yoghurts in the morning or a bit later. The some packed yoghurts (dutchmilk) I always eat, not some self made: So I would think that isn't the reason.

Than sometime like 2-3 PM the steak+paprika+apple. Than I went already once to the toilet in a very watery way, but didn't think much. At something like 6-7 PM I eat a soup with meat inside.

And direct afterwards it started the full scale till 3-4 AM (like 10-15 times).

I early start to eat coal tablets....maybe in total 15-25 (I always drink water when I woke up and some coal tablets). No food. As soon as the coal was thru the system everything was OK.

Wife told I am very hot (but didn't measure). Of course a bit weak afterward but else complete OK.

So maybe 2-4 hours to start and finished in 12 hours. No food intolerance, no problems with paprika. Paprika wasn't spicy and I have no problem with spicy.

I ate some mustard from France which I opened new. Ate the same kind of mustard before: no problem and I didn't eat much of it.

If the beef was bad, I would have smelled it, but it looked OK and actually by mistake it was complete well done.

I didn't drink any fruit juice.

So either the paprika+apple or my body didn't like the big junk of meat on empty stomach but such wouldn't need all the night.....

I bought already vinegar for cleaning in future...

Atcually from what you now describe I question whether this was related to your food intake at all. While failing to wash fruit and vegetables enough may lead to ingestion of both virus/ bacteria and pesticide residue, this will not usually be enough to cause the reaction you describe.

I suspect you had a GI virus, these can be spread person to person as well as by just touching surfaces contaminated with the virus. The resulting illness is almost always very brief in duration, as seems to have been the case with you.

That said, it is a good idea to properly wash off all produce here, especially given the heavy pesticide use.

[h90]

to be exact: I has 2 or 3 small yoghurts in the morning or a bit later. The some packed yoghurts (dutchmilk) I always eat, not some self made: So I would think that isn't the reason.

Than sometime like 2-3 PM the steak+paprika+apple. Than I went already once to the toilet in a very watery way, but didn't think much. At something like 6-7 PM I eat a soup with meat inside.

And direct afterwards it started the full scale till 3-4 AM (like 10-15 times).

I early start to eat coal tablets....maybe in total 15-25 (I always drink water when I woke up and some coal tablets). No food. As soon as the coal was thru the system everything was OK.

Wife told I am very hot (but didn't measure). Of course a bit weak afterward but else complete OK.

So maybe 2-4 hours to start and finished in 12 hours. No food intolerance, no problems with paprika. Paprika wasn't spicy and I have no problem with spicy.

I ate some mustard from France which I opened new. Ate the same kind of mustard before: no problem and I didn't eat much of it.

If the beef was bad, I would have smelled it, but it looked OK and actually by mistake it was complete well done.

I didn't drink any fruit juice.

So either the paprika+apple or my body didn't like the big junk of meat on empty stomach but such wouldn't need all the night.....

I bought already vinegar for cleaning in future...

Atcually from what you now describe I question whether this was related to your food intake at all. While failing to wash fruit and vegetables enough may lead to ingestion of both virus/ bacteria and pesticide residue, this will not usually be enough to cause the reaction you describe.

I suspect you had a GI virus, these can be spread person to person as well as by just touching surfaces contaminated with the virus. The resulting illness is almost always very brief in duration, as seems to have been the case with you.

That said, it is a good idea to properly wash off all produce here, especially given the heavy pesticide use.

On that day and the day before I didn't leave the house and I didn't interact much with people. Well my wife and my staff are here but beside taking a document from them I don't touch much. A few days before our accounting was sick, but I can't recall what it was (but most probable "stomach" problems). But I touch things she touch a lot and most probably I didn't wash my hands before cooking

So that theory very probable.....

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I was just looking around, and came across a U.S. scientific study done in Connecticut in 2000 that compared how effective rinsing vegetables with regular tap water was in removing/reducing common pesticides, and then did the same kind of analysis with the use of common veggie washing solutions followed by a tap water rinse.

The study found the tap water rinse alone removed/significantly reduced 9 of the 12 pesticides studied, leaving 3 that were not significantly reduced, including our familiar friend Chlorpyrifos, which I believe was implicated in the Chiang Mai hotel tourist deaths.

The researcher then did a similar study involving veggies and strawberries with a similar group of 9 pesticides. The study found "little or no difference" in outcome between the use of a regular tap water rinse compared to the use of the four commercial veggie washing solutions or a 1% solution of Palmolive, followed by a regular tapwater rinse.

There is little or no difference between tap water rinsing or using a fruit and vegetable wash in reducing residues of the nine pesticides studied. The removal of waxes and/or dirt from the produce was not examined as part of this study.

Of course, in Thailand, perhaps more than in the U.S., you also have to be wary of whether the tap water being used for rinsing is itself clean and safe.

http://ct.gov/caes/cwp/view.asp?a=2815&q=376676

Meanwhile, this blurb from the National Pesticide Information Center in the U.S. ( a collaboration of the US EPA and Oregon State Univ.) advocates using running water to rinse fruits and veggies more than dunking them in water. It likewise warns against using dish soaps or bleach, saying those can be absorbed into the fruits and veggies.

Holding the fruit or vegetable under flowing water removes more than dunking the produce. Peeling or scrubbing produce like potatoes with a stiff clean brush or rubbing soft items like peaches while holding them under running water works best to remove residues. However, pesticide residues can stick better to waxy or soft-skinned fruits. If the produce was treated with wax, pesticide residues may be trapped underneath the wax.

Even more interesting, the specialist said that some fruit and vegetable washing products can be effective at removing dirt or residues, but they have not been proven to be any more effective than water alone. This is because water alone is effective at removing some surface residues. No washing method is 100% effective for removing all pesticide residues.

The specialist explained that unlike dishes, fruit and vegetables have pores. Dish soap or bleach can get trapped or absorbed by the pores and become difficult to rinse off the fruit once they have been applied. Kaye realized that using cleaning products may actually add residues to her produce! The specialist added that dish soaps and bleach are not meant to be used on fruit or vegetables and may cause health effects if used on food.

http://npic.orst.edu/capro/fruitwash.html

But curiously/oddly, neither of these two sites I've linked above say anything about using vinegar or sodium bicarb solutions...

Edited June 18, 2015 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[lvr181]

Wow - all this "scientific" evidence. I say again (ad nauseum) BOIL THE WATER before washing fruit and vegetable!!

No need to use further chemicals.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Except, the science above says washing the veggies in RUNNING water is more effective than dunking or soaking in a pot or bowl, probably because using running water washes the gunk off/away, whereas soaking or washing in a pot/bowl with pre-boiled and cooled water tends to merely soak the veggies in a somewhat dirty bath.

Edited June 19, 2015 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Issangeorge]

http://www.healthy-holistic-living.com/remove-pesticide-produce.html?t=JFH

[Jingthing]

This is interesting:

Good old tap water will go a long way toward washing pesticide residues off your fruit and vegetables, but “getting it down to zero is not feasible, ever,” said Dave Stone, a toxicologist who is the director of theNational Pesticide Information Center, a cooperative effort between Oregon State University and the Environmental Protection Agency. While washing can reduce pesticide residues on the surface, it cannot eliminate pesticides that are absorbed by the roots into the very tissue of the fruit or vegetable.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/08/17/ask-well-washing-off-the-pesticides/