Fruits and Vegetables Safety
What You Need to Know
Keep Fruits And Vegetables Safe!
Fruits and vegetables are a rich source of vitamins and minerals that offer many health and nutritional benefits. The following tips on buying, handling and storing will help you and your family enjoy maximum benefits from eating fruits and vegetables.
Handling fruits and vegetables
- Remove the soiled portions of vegetables, cut off the base and wash away any residual soil in a basin of tap water.
- Soak the vegetables in fresh tap water for 15 minutes. Special detergents or washes are not needed.
- Before cutting and cooking, rinse the vegetables once more under a tap or in a basin of fresh tap water.
- For harder items like potatoes, scrub the skin gently with a brush to get rid of any dirt.
- To preserve the nutritional value, avoid cutting and shredding fruits and vegetables too early during preparation they may lose some of their nutrients when exposed to air.
Storing fruits and vegetables
- Store fruits (except banana) and vegetables in the refrigerator as soon as possible.
- Do not mix fruits with vegetables in the same storage compartment as fruits produce ethylene gas during their ripening process.
- Remove any soil off vegetables (especially root vegetables) before storage.
- Pack vegetables in plastic bags or containers before storing them in the vegetable compartment of the refrigerator.
- Store hardy root vegetables and raw fruits that need ripening at room temperature.
Credits with thanks for the above information is extracted from SFA Food Safety Education
