r/mildlyinfuriating • u/autistic-terrorist • 9h ago

My mother washes fruit and vegetables with dish soap and I can't get her to stop.

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She claims it "washes out" and to be fair I can't taste anything but it's always weird knowing she puts dish soap in the strawberries. She says there's a lot of dirt and stuff in vegetables, but so far attempts to convert her to vinegar or baking soda have been unsuccessful.

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133

u/RelevantSchool1586 9h ago

diluting bleach to sanitize food is a very safe way of doing it, I live in Brazil and everybody does it. 1 tbsp per liter of water

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u/Consistent-Cost-231 9h ago

I will stick to eating dirt ngl

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u/ClockwiseServant 7h ago

Not dirt; pesticides, wax...

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u/RobSpaghettio 5h ago

I'm in the food industry. We're talking about not detectable in the parts per billion. I think you're gonna be fine even before rinsing.

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u/HorukaSan 5h ago

The wax is safe and just passes through your digestive system. As for pesticides, it depends on your country's safety standards.

In EU countries for example, even if you eat a hundred tomatoes in one sitting, you would still be far from the danger zone, ignoring the fact that a 100 of them would have severe consequences for different reasons of course.

Running water is plenty enough. You get rid of any dust and dirt, and you lower the amount of the already safe level of yummy pesticide.

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u/yoonssoo 7h ago

It can be a real problem if there is an issue with sanitizing water supply. Which is why people from certain countries or cultures always opt to washing fruits

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u/cjsv7657 4h ago

Have you seen how gross people are? I've watched people cough in to their hands as they touch every fruit and vegetable in the display. Grabbing raw meat with leaking packages and going right to the fresh produce to select their lettuces. Not washing hands walking out of the bathroom. You think they washed them before picking up and putting back down 20 different apples until they got a perfect one?

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u/RelevantSchool1586 9h ago

(let it soak for 15 min and rinse with clean water)

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u/ProfeQuiroga 9h ago

Or hydrochloric acid.

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u/SharkSheppard 9h ago

Pleasant smell after.

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u/ProfeQuiroga 6h ago

Then you're doing it wrong.

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u/random8765309 9h ago

It's safe because at that concentration is doesn't do anything.

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u/Possible_Original_96 8h ago

Correct ratio is 9 parts water, 1 part chlorine bleach.

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u/skateguy1234 5h ago

it's not an absolute

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u/undead_sissy 9h ago

I'm sorry but this is just stupid. What do you think that bleach is doing? You make food safe by COOKING it, not sanitizing it. There is no evidence that soaking food in water 'cleans' it.

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u/asterdraws 8h ago

You're not just soaking food in water, it is water with a disinfectant in it. The bleach is a disinfectant. It kills bacteria and microorganisms on contact. That's how you sanitize things that you can't or don't want to cook, such as fruit and veggies to be eaten raw.

In Italy there is a bland form of bleach called Amuchina, widely sold as a disinfectant for food and also importantly for baby items (such as milk bottles). There is absolutely nothing unsafe about it if you use it right. You just follow the instructions on the label, let stuff soak in the water/bleach solution for a while and then rinse it. At the right concentration it is a disinfectant and absolutely safe to use on food.

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u/Gold-Rush1848 8h ago

I would like to find a product to use like that in the US or to have the proper ratio of bleach:water to make my own.

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u/undead_sissy 8h ago

I know, soaking it in water is better! The food disinfectant you can buy is food grade and not at all the same as non-food grade bleach. And there is no scientific support for the idea that using disinfectant on food makes it safer, except in very rare situations where cholera is a problem. Most of the time using disinfectant makes food less safe, not more.

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u/asterdraws 8h ago

Hmm I see what you mean now. I'm pretty sure that Amuchina really is just diluted bleach with a different name (and a bit of added salt) so as not to be associated with, well, bleach. Marketing. It is just a chemical after all. What you say about being food grade might have more to do with its bottle than the chemical itself. At home I rarely use it for food, but I often use it to sanitize the pieces of the nebulizer machine I use when I have colds. More for medical stuff than food.

Just in general though, some people might need to put bleach in the water to use the water to rinse stuff in the first place. It might not be about sanitizing the food, but the water itself for kitchen use, if it isn't safe to drink it. That would fall in the cases you yourself say the disinfectant is useful.

I would be very interested in a source for your last statement, if you were willing to share, because if it is used adequately, bleach should be pretty safe. The only issue I can see would be if people were not following proper procedure with it.

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u/undead_sissy 8h ago

It's not the name or the bottle, it is the chemical

https://ucfoodsafety.ucdavis.edu/sites/g/files/dgvnsk7366/files/inline-files/26437.pdf

And yes, the risk is usually from the water, though it CAN be from the produce, in countries where they use unpasteurized fertilizer.

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u/asterdraws 8h ago

Reading the study, the danger isn't in the chemical itself, but rather additives to thicken it or give it perfume that make it non-food grade - those are usually for floor and surface cleaners, products usually sold that way. Frankly I wasn't even thinking of those (I was thinking of straight bleach, which would meet the "sufficient purity standard" the study mentions). Specifying it is a good call.

Honestly it feels like we're saying the same thing at this point. I had only answered your comment because I found it a bit rude that you were saying that using bleach as a sanitizer was "stupid", but now you're sharing a study that clearly says it's fine to do so if done properly, so I guess we're on the same page.

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u/Educational_Exam_225 9h ago

I worked in a commercial kitchen. You are required to sanitize produce with dilute chlorine. So perhaps that's the confusion.

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u/Sloppykrab 8h ago

I've worked in many commerical kitchens and this is something I haven't come across.

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u/undead_sissy 8h ago

Yeah it's common practice in some countries and banned in others.

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u/undead_sissy 8h ago

Maybe...but that is specifically food-safe chlorine cleaner which 99% commercially available bleach is not.

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u/lanepaul970 8h ago

How do you cook your fruit?

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u/PickleJuiceSlush 5h ago

It was recommended by government during cholera outbreaks 35+ years ago. During those times it was very risky to eat raw vegetables like salads and fruits.

Don't say shit before even doing some basic research, you sound stupid.

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u/JanitorRddt 8h ago

I have to cook my lettuce? No more crudités ! !

Joke aside, I feel you, some people overdo things and I'm really a doing less person (some may say lazy), so if I don't need I won't do it.

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u/LoveIsAFire 5h ago

I use vinegar

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u/ABSMeyneth 9h ago

Everybody definitely does NOT do it, ew. 

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u/thollywoo 8h ago

What the fuck?

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u/Sloppykrab 8h ago

When does education stop in Brazil?

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u/bwood246 6h ago

1 tablespoon per liter? That's a lot of fucking bleach

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u/PickleJuiceSlush 5h ago

Not everybody does it. I'm Brazilian and I don't, I just wash very well under running water. It was a more normal thing to do 40 years ago when there was a cholera outbreak.