does simply rinsing fruit actually do anything in terms of eliminating chemicals?
In: Chemistry
The main purpose of washing your fruit and veg isn’t to remove chemicals that may have been used during the growth of the plant.
Instead you’re washing off dirt, and any germs that may have come from the person who harvested it or touched it before it arrived in your kitchen.
It can wash off chemicals.
Many fruits are covered in a wax coating to keep them from rotting too quick and that usually needs warm water or something course to rub it off.
Yes. The chemicals are only sprayed on the outside of the fruit and they aren’t strong enough to go through the skin. So a little water should remove all of it but to be safe it wouldn’t hurt to use a little soap as well.
Some insecticides are systemic. They’re sprayed onto the soil so the plant takes up the poison through its root system and is spread throughout the plant . These poisons have a limited life span so there are time limits to harvesting after spraying. If a grower sprays too close to harvest, washing fruit will not remove the insecticide.
Rinse it off with warm water or an actual vegetable wash, using cold water does not do much
I don’t mean to gross anyone out, but I’ve been fruit picking grapes before and I can tell you that people often cut themselves on the shears and got blood on them. Not only that but a group of of them got drunk the night before and vomited all over a case of grapes. They also sweat and rub sunscreen and god knows what other germs over everything. The people picking it aren’t the most sanitary…I hope that fruit goes through some sort of wash before it gets to the stores but just wash it just in case!
Fruits are safe to eat.
The “chemicals” are either safe for consumption or are sprayed before the fruits even establish on the trees.
Some fruits gets loads of spray throughout their life and even after picking. Washing doesn’t remove the chemicals that have been adsorbed only the wax and any dirt from outside surfaces.
If you’re worried about ingestion best buy organic and check the label for chemicals code
It’s probably not going to do much to remove pesticides and things, but think about how many other grocery store customers have gotten their grubby hands all over it on the shelf at the store. And then consider that the employee who stocked those shelves may or may not wash their hands — there’s a reason every store that sells food has a sign up in the bathroom to warn employees to wash their hands after they use the toilet, and it’s not because compliance rates are super high.
I used to work in a produce department in a local chain grocery store.
A customer dropped a container of blueberries, so the produce manager had me sweep the blueberries into a dust pan, then bring them to the back of the store and dump them back into the container. He then simply walked out and put them right back on the shelf and said “people are supposed to wash this stuff anyway”
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