How To Wash And Disinfect Fruits And Vegetables Correctly
It is essential to learn how to wash and disinfect fruits and vegetables correctly before consuming them. This allows us to avoid infections and other health problems.
Including fruits and vegetables in our diet is healthy and essential for good health. These foods have many properties that benefit our body. They improve our natural defenses and prevent many diseases.
These foods are nevertheless likely to be contaminated by many pathogens that affect our health. That is why we must learn to wash and disinfect them properly before consuming them.
How to wash fruits and vegetables?
In the rest of this article, we give you some steps recommended by the Food and Drug Administration to properly wash fruits and vegetables.
1. Wash your hands well
You must wash your hands thoroughly before handling any fruit or vegetable. Personal hygiene will play a big role in the contamination of this type of food.
So, before you taste this fruit you love so much, make sure you have clean hands. Never eat with dirty hands.
2. Wash whole fruits and vegetables
Wash your fruits and vegetables before cutting or peeling them. This will prevent pathogens on the skin from entering the interior of the fruit or vegetable. Do this regardless of whether or not you are going to eat the skin.
Place vegetables and fruit for at least two minutes under running tap water or in a container filled with water to save water.
3. Use a brush
If the vegetables and fruits are extremely dirty (earth or other), use a brush for washing (or a clean sponge without soap).
4. Remove the outer sheets
It is best to remove the outer leaves of some fruits and vegetables, as they can be contaminated.
5. Use antibacterial products
There are various homemade tips for disinfecting fruits and vegetables. A good option is to use antibacterial products capable of fighting bacteria and thus reducing the risks associated with the presence of pathogens. Let’s see together in the rest of this article how to prepare antibacterial solutions at home.
How to disinfect fruits and vegetables?
The ideal is to completely disinfect your fruits and vegetables once you have washed them. Here are some very effective homemade tips for this.
Baking soda
Diluted in water in small amounts, baking soda can disinfect foods and the countertop. This is the reason why we can use it to wash food properly.
How to proceed ?
Dilute a tablespoon of baking soda in a liter of water. Soak the food for 10 minutes and you’re done!
The vinegar
Vinegar is another very powerful natural disinfectant. We can use it as is or diluted in a little water. Although we have not found any scientific evidence confirming its virtues, we recommend this article which concerns its use on the countertop.
How to proceed?
Dilute a glass of vinegar in a liter of water then soak the fruit for 10 minutes. Or, spray food with this liquid before cooking.
The lemon 
Lemon is a food known for its disinfectant and antibacterial properties, mainly due to citric acid.
This food, combined with a little vinegar, makes it an ideal natural disinfectant to eliminate any pathogen from your fruits and vegetables.
How to proceed ?
In a container, mix well in equal parts, the water, lemon and vinegar. Then soak the fruits and vegetables you are going to use for 10 minutes. Then rinse them with clean water and dry them with a clean towel.
If you wash and sanitize your fruits and vegetables properly, you will minimize the risk of infection and thus benefit your well-being. And you, how do you disinfect your food at home?
