Comments on Paige's review of FIT Fruit & Vegetable Wash
FIT Fruit & Vegetable Wash
Description: Produce wash 100% natural, removes pesticides.
Fruit and Vegetable washes
I am under the impression that these are not needed.
It would be so much more helpful if I could remember where I read this, but I specifically remember reading about a study where fruit and vegetable wash was compared with rinsing with water and with scrubbing and/or soaking with a natural detergent.
I remembered this specifically because my dad had become obsessed with these washes after the spinach thing a couple years ago.
The fruit and veg wash actually scored the worst.
The best way was to soak in a bowl for a few minutes and then scrub with a brush(or rinse and remove outside leaves if it is something like lettuce that can't be scrubbed).
You can also make your own wash just like you can make your own cleaners; water with vinegar and salt or hydrogen peroxide. A little natural soap. You probably already own these. Save your money and get yourself a pedicure!(With natural nail polish of course)
These work great and are so much cheaper, don't require one more plastic bottle or shipping.
I did a few minutes of searching to find this study, I think I read it on national geographic's or discovery's green websites, but no luck.
I did find this summary of a university study so I copied and pasted for a quick reference:
"A three-year study showed that rinsing under tap water significantly reduced residues of nine of the twelve pesticides examined across fourteen commodities. Four fruit and vegetable wash products were found to be no more effective at removing eight of nine pesticide residues from produce than either a 1% solution of dishwashing liquid or rinsing under tap water alone for three commodities studied."
So, I felt the need to respond. I have been on a minimalist kick lately and this seemed like one more thing we don't need.
Paige's keywords: Fit fruit and vegetable wash waxes residues pesticides contaminant kosher certified vegan Health Pro
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Jenn A. says:
That's fantastic information, Paige -- I agree with you: the produce washes are a bit overkill and you can do a lot by scrubbing and peeling your vegetables.
Or - buy organic.
I think that this product is marketed toward folks who do their grocery shopping at Costco & Wal-Mart and who think that organic is no different than conventional or unreasonably expensive.
P J. says:
Paige, here is a university study that said that FIt was proven to kill Salmonella (wonder why news reporters could not do some home work and print all the data out there). Here is the base line of the tech report:
Journal of Food Protection, Vol. 64, No. 10, 2001, Pages 1477–1482
Efcacy and Reproducibility of a Produce Wash in Killing
Salmonella on the Surface of Tomatoes Assessed with a
Proposed Standard Method for Produce Sanitizers
U of CA, U of GA, P&G
ABSTRACT
The reproducibility of a method developed to evaluate point-of-use sanitizers for fresh produce was tested at three different
laboratories. Mixtures of ve Salmonella serotypes were inoculated on the surface of ripe tomatoes. After the inoculum was
dry, tomatoes were placed inside a plastic bag and sprayed with sterile USP water, Dey and Engley (D/E) neutralizer broth,
or a prototype Fit produce wash (PW), an alkaline solution comprised of generally recognized as safe ingredients (water, oleic
acid, glycerol, ethanol, potassium hydroxide, sodium bicarbonate, citric acid, and distilled grapefruit oil), and rubbed for 30
s. The tomatoes were rinsed 10 s with 195 ml of D/E neutralizer broth (rinse solution), then combined with 20 ml of D/E
neutralizer (residual wash solution) and rubbed by hand to remove residual Salmonella. Populations of Salmonella were
determined for each tomato in the rinse solution and residual wash solution. Treatment with PW resulted in reductions in the
number of Salmonella 2 to 4 logs greater than those achieved with the sterile water or D/E neutralizer broth controls. Consistent
results were obtained across the three study sites, indicating reproducible results were obtained using the test method. The
method used to determine the ef cacy of killing or removing Salmonella from tomatoes in this study is suggested as a standard
method for measuring the ef cacy of sanitizers on tomatoes and other similar fruits and vegetables with rigid, smooth surfaces.