Washing fruit and vegetable shells with baking soda, bleach or bleach, as well as removing dirt, certain pesticides and pesticides found on the skin of food also remove viruses and bacteria that cause diseases such as hepatitis, cholera, salmonellosis and even coronavirus, for example. .
Before washing fruits and vegetables, it is important to wash your hands thoroughly and remove the damaged parts. After that, you should follow these steps:
- In addition.
- It is important not to mix clean foods with dirty or raw foods.
- As there may be contamination again.
Cooked foods can only be washed with running water to remove dirt, as heat can remove microorganisms in these foods.
It is important to remember that whenever you use commercial chemicals suitable for vegetable washing, read the instructions on the packaging to respect the amount to be used, avoiding the accumulation of the substance in the body. In this case, it is ideal to follow the packaging instructions.
The use of products such as bleach, chlorine or detachments is fully discouraged as they may be harmful to health if they are not completely removed from food before consuming them.
Other healthy and effective alternatives to remove microorganisms and pesticides from vegetables include the use of hydrogen peroxide or organic acids, such as citric, lactic or ascorbic acid. However, in both cases you have to be careful. In the case of hydrogen peroxide, it is important to use percentages less than 5%, as they can cause skin or eye irritation. In the case of organic acids, it is always better to use a mixture of 2 or more acids.
To use these alternatives, you should dilute 1 tablespoon of the product per 1 liter of water, leaving the vegetables soaked for 15 minutes. After this time, you should wash the vegetables with running water to remove excess product and keep food in the refrigerator.
It is important to remember that eating raw foods that are not properly washed can be dangerous to health because of the amount of harmful microorganisms and pesticides in the skin of vegetables, which can cause problems such as stomach pains, diarrhea, fever and discomfort. See the 3 diseases caused by contaminated food.
White, balsamic, wine or apple vinegar can be used to disinfect vegetables and fruits, but this is not considered the best option. In fact, some studies indicate that it is not as effective as products containing sodium hypochlorite to eliminate certain microorganisms.
In addition, other studies indicate that for vinegar to function properly, it must be highly concentrated, i.e. large amounts of vinegar in the water are needed to eliminate harmful microorganisms and pesticides. In addition, vinegar can alter the taste of some vegetables.