Do you wash your fruit and veggies before tossing them in a slow-cooked stew, salad or stir-fry?
If not, you're skipping a super important food prep step to reduce bacteria and
protect the health of you and your baby bump. In today's episode of Nourish,
I'm going to share 7 tips for thoroughly wash your fruit and vegetables. Stay tuned!
Hi, my name is Melanie McGrice. I'm an accredited practising dietitian and I specialise in nutrition
for fertility, pregnancy and postpartum. If it's your first visit to my channel,
please hang out and check out my other videos. And feel free to download my pregnancy meal plan
as my welcome gift to you. You can access it from melaniemcgrice.com/pregnancy.
Today I'm spotlighting safe food preparation, which is super important during pregnancy to
protect you and your bub from harmful bacteria. Though most of us are careful about how we handle
meat and dairy foods, we often forget that fruit and veggies can also transfer foodborne
illnesses such as listeria which can lead to issues such as miscarriage or premature birth.
Despite strict safety regulations for modern farming and food packaging,
sometimes fruit and veggies still get contaminated from a wide range of bacteria.
This can include E Coli and salmonella, which could be harmful for you and your baby.
This bacteria can be introduced from: - Soil and water when plants are growing;
- Poor hand or factory hygiene during harvesting or packing
or stocking food on supermarket shelves; - Bacteria in your crisper drawer if you
don't clean it often enough; and/or - Your home veggie patch, especially
due to faeces from animals such as chickens, possums and birds.
The best protection? Always wash fruit and vegetables when you're about to cook or eat them.
To do this thoroughly, follow these 7 tips:
Number 1: Before preparing fruit or veggies, make sure you wash your hands with soap for 20 seconds.
Number 2: Rinse fruit and vegetables before you peel or cut them, and rinse peelers and knives
each time you handle a new veggie. This will help avoid bacteria transfer between foods such
as soil covered potatoes and carrots. It will also help you remove surface pesticides too.
Tip number 3: When eating foods such as lettuce, spinach, bok choy, leeks or Brussels sprouts,
remove the outermost leaves, then peel off the leaves you intend to use. Rinse the leaves that
you're going to use in a colander under cold running water for at least 20 seconds
Tip number 4: Pat veggies dry with some clean paper towelling that you then discard.
Invest in a lettuce spinner so you can spin wet leaves to remove excess moisture.
On to my fifth tip: Keep a special vegetable brush in your kitchen. Use it with water to
brush root vegetables such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots and suedes, as well as fruit
with firmer skin such as apples, oranges, lemons and pears. The bristles can help dislodge bacteria
growing a bit deeper in the skin of plant foods. Disinfect your veggie brush every few
weeks by soaking it in a little bleach and water. Tip number 6: Pop delicate foods like berries and
mushrooms under running water - swish them around or gently rub to dislodge any grit.
And finally, tip number 7: After food shopping, don't rinse fresh fruit and veggies before storing them
in your fridge or fruit bowl. This could leave them moist, encouraging more bacteria growth.
If you've found these tips helpful, please 'like' this video, share it with friends and 'follow
me' on my other social channels which you'll find in the description box below this video.
And for personalised nutrition advice, remember you can book
a Nutrition Assessment with one of our dietitians at melaniemcgrice.com/BookNow
It was great to see you today and I'll look forward to seeing you again in my next video!