How to Sanitize Fruits and Vegetables

You probably knew how important it is to sanitize fruits and vegetables even before the spread of COVID-19. But the coronavirus has meant getting more serious about sanitizing the items we bring into our home—fresh produce included. And whereas a quick rinse in water might have once seemed sufficient, today’s rules around food safety at home suggest that you’re better off doing more than less when it comes to the sanitization of your fruits and veggies. Or are you?

Below, we’ll go over the basics that you need to know about how to safely and effectively sanitize fruits and vegetables—plus why it’s so important you do so in the first place.

Why Do You Need to Sanitize Fruits and Vegetables?

Fruits and vegetables go through a quite a journey before they make it into your crisper drawers, and along the way, they pick up things you don’t want to be eating, including wax, dirt, and chemical pesticides. They can also harbor pathogens that cause foodborne illness, an issue that affects one in six Americans every year according to the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC).

COVID-19 adds another threat to the list of things that might be lurking on your fruits and vegetables, and that’s germs from people who may have touched the produce before you purchased it. That being said, a reality check is helpful here. The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) notes that there is currently no evidence of COVID-19 transmission through food or food packaging. The need to sanitize fruits and vegetables before consuming them is still mostly related to those aforementioned wax, dirt, chemicals, and pathogens, with extra steps right now providing more peace of mind than anything.

Global pandemic or not, it’s always smart to sanitize fruits and vegetables. And there are certainly some dos and don’ts when it comes to the right way to do it.

How to Safely Sanitize Fruits and Vegetables

Effectively washing your fruits and veggies before eating them is actually a lot easier than you might assume. Here’s how to do it.

DO wash your hands first. You don’t want to accidentally transfer germs from your hands to your produce before and after sanitizing them, since that would be quite counterproductive. Follow the established guideline of washing your hands with soap and water for a full 20 seconds, and then you can go grab your food items. Hand sanitizer is sufficient here too.

DON’T wash produce items before you’re ready to eat them. Moisture is a perfect habitat for bacteria to prosper in. If you sanitize fruits and vegetables before you’re ready to consume them, you run the risk of creating an environment where additional bacteria can thrive. This bacteria isn’t necessarily dangerous, but it can speed up the process of your produce going bad, which is not ideal in the best of times and particularly so when you’re trying to make as few trips to the grocery store as possible.

DO use just cold water. There has been a lot of information spreading around about proper sanitization methods at home in light of the coronavirus. If you’ve been paying attention, then you’ve probably seen recommendations that you sanitize fruits and vegetables in soap or special produce rinses, but a lot of experts—including the U.S. Department of Agriculture—are saying that’s a bad idea.

Many fruits and vegetables are porous, meaning that it’s easy for something you apply on the outside to seep its way to the inside. If consumed, soaps, even gentle ones, can cause stomach distress and are not approved for use on food by the FDA. As for produce sprays and rinses, there’s no evidence that they’re more effective than water in cleaning your produce and little research has been done in their clinical safety.

Your best bet? Stick to cold water and give each fruit or veggie a thorough rinse for at least 30 seconds before consumption, even if you’re planning to peel it and/or cook it. Avoid hot water, which can provide a pathway for microorganisms to get inside the item.

DON’T forget to be thorough. A cold water rinse is all that you should need to make your fruits and veggies safe to eat, but technique is important here. If you’re sanitizing lettuce, cabbage, or similar leafy greens, remove the outer layer of greens before sanitizing. Remove the leaves from other fruits and vegetables too before cleaning, and get rid of any damaged or bruised spots, which can harbor bacteria.

For items like apples, potatoes, carrots, and other hard fruits and vegetables, use a vegetable brush during the cold water rinse to scrub the surface. For softer produce items like berries, tomatoes, and mushrooms, use your hands to gently but firmly rub the item while it’s being rinsed.

DO consider a baking soda bath if you want to take it a step further. If cold water just doesn’t sound like enough to you, then an extra step would be a baking soda bath. A recent study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found that a baking soda soak was the most effective method of removing pesticide residue from apples, even when compared to Clorox bleach (which, it’s worth noting, should never be used on food).

To do a baking soda bath, clean and sanitize your kitchen sink, and then fill it with cold water. Next, add your baking soda—about a teaspoon should be sufficient, though you can add up to a few tablespoons if you prefer. Add your fruits and vegetables to the bath and let soak for 12 to 15 minutes, then scrub harder items and those with rinds with a vegetable brush. Thoroughly dry all items before eating.

Note that the above point about not washing your fruits and vegetables before you’re ready to eat them still stands. Only use a full baking soda bath in the sink if you’re planning on using a lot of produce items; otherwise a bowl of water with a pinch of baking soda will be enough for one or two items at a time.

Do Some Fruits and Vegetables Need To Be Sanitized More Than Others?

A lot of Americans are more worried right now about figuring out how to pay their rent or mortgage than they are about spending extra on organic produce. That being said, it’s worth paying attention to which produce items are more likely to be contaminated by pesticides so that you know where to really focus your sanitization efforts.

Every year, the Environmental Working Group releases a list of the Dirty Dozen (produce items likely to be highest in pesticides) and the Clean Fifteen (produce items you don’t have to worry as much about). When you sanitize fruits and vegetables, keep this distinction in mind.

The Dirty Dozen (in order): Strawberries, spinach, kale, nectarines, apples, grapes, peaches, cherries, pears, tomatoes, celery, potatoes, hot peppers.

Buy these produce items organic if you can, and always take extra care when rinsing them to remove unwanted substances.

The Clean Fifteen (in order): Avocados, sweet corn, pineapple, onions, papaya, sweet peas (frozen), eggplants, asparagus, cauliflower, cantaloupes, broccoli, mushrooms, cabbage, honeydew melon, kiwi.

You’ll still want to give these items a good 30 second scrub down under cold water, but you’ll have less to worry about when it comes to contamination.

Be Smart, Not Stressed

It’s hard not to overthink everything that we bring into our homes right now, but when it comes to food from the grocery store, it helps to be able to separate fact from fiction—especially when the facts show that it’s not as concerning as you might think. Follow the tips above to sanitize fruits and vegetables and you should have nothing to worry about.