Spyke
sh.itjust.works

Why would you expect tap water to kill bacteria?

You’re washing bugs and dirt off.

266
lemmy.world

The mechanical action of water running and wiping is what takes out 90% of germs and bacteria already. Soap is only responsible for that next 9%.

There's still 1% unless you autoclave it.

Tldr: You probably don't need soap for dishes if you wash them during initial rinse immediately after use and they aren't super gross.

You still want to wash and soap your hands cause 10% of cold germs is plenty.

Also quit licking your fingers to open the plastic bags for produce at the store you filthy fucks.

16
Crisreply
lemmy.world

I mean that only seems like it'd be true if oil isn't involved, since running water over something coated with oil seems like it'd do pretty much nothing

5

Through the power of not letting the oil set, and using a rag or brush with warm to hot water, you will be surprised just how little to no soap you need at all.

Fwiw I'm not cleaning greasy ass pans regularly either. We're too poor for that lol.

3

the belief that a quick 3 second rinse will kill off bacteria seems to be consistent with the ways that most people try to wash their hands

13
Clearreply
lemmy.blahaj.zone

I don't think that salad bought in a store should have bugs and dirt on it, if you find them in your sink when you wash it you should change supermarket

EDIT: My bad, I was thinking about pre packaged salad, not like a whole head of lettuce, OP is correct and OOP should wash their lettuce better

-70

They're definitely washed after being harvested, but as someone who has seen how it's stored between that and the store shelves, I'll give it a rinse every time.

55
edricreply
lemm.ee

You might be thinking of pre-packaged salad which, while already washed, can still contain bacteria. But if you’re buying plain lettuce, it’s absolutely not pre-washed.

40

Ah, you're right I was thinking about the pre packaged one, now all the people telling me they have found multiple bugs in their lettuce makes sense considering I would probably expect to find small bugs and dirt in a whole head of lettuce

6

I feel that they still spray it with water, even if not thoroughly, just to remove the biggest pieces of dirt. But I may be wrong.

1
aubertlonereply
lemmy.world

Bro people poop in the fields because they literally just don't have time to go back to the restroom in between shifts of picking

And I don't blame them in the slightest. They have a very hard job

So I don't know about you but I will always be washing any produce that I buy at the grocery store as soon as I bring it in my house

39

Used to work at a supermarket. We would hide the poop behind the cheese section so it wouldn't stink

1
Dabundisreply
lemmy.world

Lettuce grows in a bundle of very tightly packed leaves. At no part in the growing - transport - shelving - selling chain can anyone be expected to thoroughly wash between the leaves, especially near the root. Rinse your veggies before using.

34

And that's for iceberg lettuce. Romain and it's kind have loose leafs so a ton gets in there. Bok Choi too, I cook with it a lot and I see a bit of dirt in there all the time. I always give my veggies a good rinse.

2
Scratchreply
sh.itjust.works

Bugs mean fresh and no pesticides!

BUGS GOOD!

It’s like finding soil on your tubers. It’s better to have to wash it off.

30

I don't know where you live but I'm in Australia and I also lived in South America and I've seen plenty of dirt, caterpillars, aphids and flies too many times on my lettuce, harvested from different sources, seasons, and purchased from different supermarket chains and small grocer shops.

And it was never a problem for me. Where are you getting your sterile lettuce from, so I make sure I don't?

13
Clearreply
lemmy.blahaj.zone

That's literally me, that's who you made fun of.

Do you feel bed yet?

5
Resonosityreply
lemmy.world

I've been using Original Commenter (OC) to talk about the person who starts a comment thread. Seems to be pretty intuitive. Wonder what the acronym would be for commenters responding to OC and starting different comment branches. Probably makes sense to just use their name

2
lemmy.world

OC already means Original Content so at best you will just be confusing people.

3

I feel like OP can be used to mean either the original thread poster or the author of a branching comment, granted that it's properly contextualized, e.g. multiple layers of O lol. It's awkward, but it gets the point across.

2
lemmy.world

Who rinses things to remove bacteria? I just want to remove dirt.

66
meliaescreply
lemmy.world

Only because you don't like the color, or maybe the texture of dirt? We wash off dirt because it's dirty, and dirty things aren't good for us (because of bacteria...).

6

Also because gritty lettuce makes a salad I don't eat. Spinach is the worst . . . plus it seems to have Listeria from time to time . . . 3.2 second wash minimum

11
[deleted]reply
lemmy.world

Also the bugs, fecal matter, and dirt that can be in the folds and pockets.

36
[deleted]reply
lemmy.world

We are talking about washing lettuce, prior to it becoming a salad.

3
Sinafreply
lemmy.world

Sorry, but I wanted to make a stupid "switcharoo" kind of joke that would imply a significant lack of personal hygiene on my part.

In German salad also means lettuce, so that's why it wasn't as clear as I wanted it to be.

8

I always wash the fecal matter in my pockets very carefully - glad to hear my personal hygiene is passable.

1
huginnreply
feddit.it

You wash it because of the ratlungworm that raw snail and slug can give you.

18
someguy3reply
lemmy.world

They've studied that and it doesn't get rid of pesticides.

To get rid of pesticides you need to immerse it in a baking soda solution for about 20 minutes.

0
someguy3reply
lemmy.world

At a minimum rinse all fresh produce under tap water for at least thirty seconds.

The mechanical action of rubbing the produce under tap water is likely responsible for removing pesticide residues.

Personally I wouldn't call mechanical action of rubbing to be rinsing. I would have liked to see the % removed, but skimming that article I didn't see. Also in my experience people don't rub for 30 literal seconds, the people I watch are lucky to break 5 seconds.

But the main point I want to make is that baking soda is a base that breaks down the pesticide.

Liang [4] studied the removal of five organophosphorus pesticides in raw cucumber with home preparation, and the research results show that washing by tap water for 20 min only caused a pesticides reduction of 26.7–62.9%. Sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate solution caused a pesticides reduction of 66.7–98.9%.

The removal efficiency of other washing solutions outperformed the tap water; tap water washing only caused a 10–40% loss of the 10 pesticides, and the AlEW, micron calcium, and active oxygen solution caused a 40–90% loss of the 10 pesticides.

AIEW being alkaline electrolyzed water, which I understand to be baking soda.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6388112

3
huginnreply
feddit.it

AlEW was not the baking soda, it's a separate thing if I understood it correctly.

Additionally you're complaining that nobody rinses their food for 30 seconds while expecting them to bathe it in high ph water for 45 minutes??

Furthermore they were comparing it not with rinsing and running but rather just soaking it in water for 20 minutes.

And despite all that card stacking water still was 69% removal at its high range, which overlaps significantly with the low range of the chemical baths.

I'll keep rinsing and running, thanks.

1
someguy3reply
lemmy.world

Oh you're right looks like AIEW and sodium bicarbonate are different, but they are in the same tree.

Pesticides in cucumber were more easily removed by alkaline solutions, such as AlEW, micron calcium, and sodium bicarbonate solution, compared

Other info:

Among these washing processing methods, 2% sodium bicarbonate solution and ozone water caused 20–40% more loss of the 10 pesticides than tap water.

the order of the removal effects of 10 pesticides in spinach by washing with detergent solution was as follows: ozone water and active oxygen solution > micron calcium solution >AlEW (pH 12.35) and sodium bicarbonate solution > AlEW (pH 10.50) > tap water. These washing methods are two to four times as effective as tap water.

You don't have to "bathe" your produce (which conjures up imagery of scrubbing the whole time), you just let it sit afaik. There is a planning factor, but I can plan ahead and let it soak. Takes no more time.

You're comparing high range of one (water) with low range baking soda (which you call chemical bath), when there are massive ranges? That (along with misleading terms) is bad faith discussion there. So ciao.

2
huginnreply
feddit.it

It's a chemical bath because there are various chemicals that they're using to bathe them. I was lumping ozone bath, sodium bicarb bath and AlEW bath together and they're all 3 different chemicals.

It's a bath because they're being bathed which has nothing to do with scrubbing.

AlEW bath is 48–85% after 45 minutes at a PH of 12

Refrigeration was 60.9–90.2%. A 20 minute water bath was 26.7–62.9%.

My advice is, and always was, scrub your veggies for 30 seconds before use.

Your advice is plan it out so that you've got a high PH solution that you leave your veggies in for 45 minutes before use.

If you see those as equal I have no idea how. I cook all the time - the amount of times that I've got 45 minutes of prep before starting is next to 0. I can't eat at 9pm every night because I spent an hour waiting around for veggies to purify when I can simply wash them off in the sink.

It's insane that you wont see reason, but I get that you've decided you're right and can never change your mind.

0

It's not 45 minutes of prep, you're still talking as if you're scrubbing working on it the whole time. IF you have the option before you need it, you go stick it in the solution. And you don't need to sit there staring at it, you go do something else, you prep something else, again IF you have option before you need it.

And it's not 45 minutes or bust, the longer it goes the more you get. The first study mentioned was based on 20 minutes. These are diminishing returns with time, so I expect 10-15 minutes will get you a ton.

Your advice is plan it out so that you’ve got a high PH solution that you leave your veggies in for 45 minutes before use.

And to address your strawman, which I thought the options were so blindingly obvious that I didn't bother stating: If you don't have that planning option, yes you can scrub the hell out of it but know that will get off far, far, far less. That was the whole point.

You are the one that won't admit that you are wrong when the data is right there. You have to change it to you don't have time and strawmans. Inb4 your next round, you can say I overspoke in my first comment, more accurately: "They’ve studied that and it doesn’t get rid of [much/most] pesticides." Why do I bother with such bad faith. Ciao.

1

Probably depends a lot on the pesticides and therefore country...

4
lemmy.world

Thank you. I thought that pesticides wouldn't come off with simple rinsing.

2
lemmy.world

Awesome! Looks like rinsing and 30 second rubbing is the way to go. Thank you.

2
infosec.pub

Bodies are pretty OK with dietary bacteria. Same goes for dirt, bugs, and Will Arnett.

41
lemmy.world

Is ... Is that Will Arnett?? Or am I missing the joke?? It doesn't look like him to me.

9
AquaTofanareply
lemmy.world

I think OP and I just have the same issue with similar looking faces, because I also thought this was Gob from Arrested Development.

5

Oh damn, you’re right! I skimmed past thinking it was one of these lol

Yeah no idea who that is in OP

8
lemmy.world

Ha bacteria! It's not the water you should be worried about.

It's the quart gallon of vodka I wash it down with each night, as I try to blot out my existence.

Fuck you bacteria (and my liver), I WIN!

37

The level of idiocy needed to think that the reason you rinse it is to kill bacteria is disturbing to imagine.

33
sh.itjust.works

Err, your immune system can cope with a bit of bacteria. But if you don't wash your salad and get a massive load into yourself, your body will deal with it by extorting everything in your stomach. E.g. you'll puke the entire night. You're welcome.

33
BluesFreply
lemmy.world

When you rinse salad with water you are not cleaning a significant amount of bacteria off it. You're getting soil and bugs.

Unless your salad is contaminated with something, not washing it will at worst be gritty and unpleasant. It won't make you ill. If it does, washing it will make no difference.

21
lemmy.world

What do you even mean? Obviously, you are washing off all the bacteria that is in the soil and the bugs. It doesn't make it sterile, but rinsing makes the overall amout of bacteria significantly lower....

8
Echreply
lemm.ee

Clearly you haven't heard of rat lungworm.

2

Sure, if you live somewhere with parasitic worms you should take extra care. Still, you aren't cleaning bacteria off anything with water.

2
FelixCressreply
lemmy.world

if you don't wash your salad and get a massive load into yourself

Who spunks on a salad?

16
lemmy.world

Yeah I just don't like the feel of dirt grit and bugs in my teeth.

30

Yeah I wash my vegetables for grit. I don't even care that much about bugs, but even the slightest amount of grit is terrible.

11
lemmy.world

I don't know if this is effective, my wife soak the veggies in baking powder/baking soda, I forgot which. She said it kills bugs. Who am I to argue.

10

Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate. Dissolving it in water will increase its pH. I'm not sure if that works for killing bacteria.

4

There are customers visiting my company. I was washing my hand in the bathroom sink when one of them, after doing his business, put his left hand behind, opened the faucet with the right, wet his fingers, closed the faucet, and left. Disgusting piece of shit.

8
lemmy.world

🎶 "All these, microscopically small things, worms shaped, like rings, inside, my gut, shoot-ing, from my butt" 🎶

6
lemm.ee

It probably doesn’t do much, but I soak it in water with vinegar for 10 minutes.

6
[deleted]reply
lemmy.world

I assume the ratio is low enough on the vinegar that it doesn't impact the taste?

Can't imagine it would hurt anything if it doesn't affect the texture.

5
edricreply
lemm.ee

Yup, 2-3 teaspoons in a bowl of water. I rinse it with water again after soaking and that washes away any sourness left behind.

9
Bobreply

You should clarify that you have to use a particular kind of bleach heavily diluted, and that it's only common practice in the Americas.

1
WoahWoahreply
lemmy.world

Yall are crazy. You're literally like 10 pounds of bacteria. 😁

1
edricreply

I mean, if you want to include e.coli to your 10 pounds of bacteria, be my guest. Taking some precautions doesn't hurt.

1

If you can't scrub every lettuce leaf with borax before you eat it, you don't even deserve a salad.

5
lemmy.world

I understand the idea of removing the basic dirt and grim that could still be left on the surface of the lettuce. But the idea that running the vegetable under the water has any help in sterilizing it has to be pseudoscience. Too many adults have this mentality that washing produce purchased from the grocery store drastically reduces your chance of food born illness. If your food is contaminated with harmful microscopic organisms in a food outbreak. I doubt washing it is going to change much.

4

I am not against the actual act itself. It's more the mindless routine many people partake and advocate for without questioning it in the first place. It's more a lack of critical thinking and understanding of the general public. Which I know is a criticism that goes well beyond this simple act.

1