Naked Science Forum

Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => COVID-19 => Topic started by: nudephil on 02/04/2020 12:01:39

Title: Is supermarket produce safe?
Post by: nudephil on 02/04/2020 12:01:39

A pertinent question from Andrew:

Please can you advise if I can eat fresh fruit and vegetable products from Spain or other EU counties that have a significant infection - eg garlic, apples, or oranges. What if a pack of apples were in the supermarket and someone sneezed on them? How could I sanitise them?

What do you think? We're looking into doing a recorded piece on this for the show.

Title: Re: Is supermarket produce safe?
Post by: Colin2B on 02/04/2020 12:41:37

Food that has traveled from spain/italy should have been long enough in transit to be low risk, main risk would be por hygiene over here. You could always do what yachts do when visiting a risky port and wash fruit & veg in soapy water and rinsing well, a mild disinfectant like milton or very dilute hydrogen peroxide will also work.

Title: Re: Is supermarket produce safe?
Post by: vhfpmr on 02/04/2020 17:32:51

What about bicarb, is that strong enough to kill anything?

Title: Re: Is supermarket produce safe?
Post by: alancalverd on 02/04/2020 19:35:07

I'd go for hypochlorite bleach, with a little surfactant (washing-up liquid), then a hot rinse. Maybe peel the apples if you don't like the residual tang. Good for salads too.

Title: Re: Is supermarket produce safe?
Post by: set fair on 02/04/2020 20:09:17

I use soap and water.