All that … ewww, icky stuff on our fruits and veggies! Do you worry endlessly about getting it all off? Do you buy products to help you do so, then worry about their safety as well?

Your concern isn’t unwarranted. One, yes, there is plenty of pesticides and other residue (including things like E. coli) on our produce. Two, you may well rinse off some of that but add more chemicals to your system from the fruit/vegetable wash you use. Not a good trade off.

There’s a better, easier, more inexpensive, safer way to ensure your food’s safety. Use simple tap water and rub the surface well. End of story!

A study compared the effectiveness of washing produce with a variety of specific produce washing products along with using a 1% dishwashing solution and only using tap water. The findings? Tap water is as effective as all those other choices. And, may I point out – safer.

The recommendations to have as clean of produce as you can manage:

• At minimum, rinse all fresh produce under tap water for at least 30 seconds.
• The mechanical action of rubbing the produce under tap water is likely responsible for removing pesticide residues. Mild detergents or fruit and vegetable washes do not enhance the removal of pesticides past that of rinsing with tap water on its own.

Pretty easy, huh? I keep telling that this getting healthier stuff is simpler than you realize. We’ve just made a science of complicating it … and costing us more. But now you know better.