Safe Produce Handling Tips
By: Becky Bracken
Published: June 4, 2011

Fuits and veggies are certainly the fundation of any healthy diet, but without safe handling your salad could kill you quicker than Paula Deen's bacon-doughnut-egg-burger ever could. Thoroughly washing your produce and safe handling of your fruits and veggies is critical for preventing foodborne illness. Here are a few tips from the CDC on safely handling your produce to prevent illness. 
1. Rinse fresh fruits and vegetables in running tap water to remove visible dirt and grime.
2. Remove and discard the outermost leaves of a head of lettuce or cabbage.
3. Because bacteria can grow well on the cut surface of fruit or vegetable, be careful not to contaminate these foods while slicing them up on the cutting board.
4. Avoid leaving cut produce at room temperature for many hours.
4. Don't be a source of food borne illness yourself. Wash your hands with soap and water before preparing food.
TIP: Avoid preparing food for others if you yourself have a diarrheal illness. Changing a baby's diaper while preparing food is a bad idea that can easily spread illness.
How do you wash your produce? Do you have any tips or tricks to share? We'd love to hear them.

Comments:
diane
June 30, 2011

I have read how dirty our sinks are, so I don't let produce touch the sink when cleaning.