You know the cost-of-living crisis is biting when videos of influencers unpacking their grocery \u201chauls\u201d are viral on TikTok.<\/p>\n
The Guardian\u2019s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link.\u00a0Learn more<\/a>.<\/p>\n Chewing through millions of views, fruit and vegetables are aesthetically plopped into a sink<\/a> filled with water, piece by piece. \u201cSanitising\u201d products are then added, ranging from the fizz of baking soda and vinegar<\/a> to specialised vegetable soaps<\/a> (\u201cAmazon link in my bio!\u201d). There are even expensive electronic purifiers<\/a>, which shake, shimmy and bubble away in the basin, supposedly removing any nasties<\/a>.<\/p>\n But is ASMR deep-cleaning<\/a> your fresh produce really necessary? And is it all too late for those of us who can barely remember to rinse our pears?<\/p>\n \u2018There is no fruit, even resilient ones like apples, that are going to be better off for being washed and then put away\u2019, says fruit farm operator Rebecca Scurr. Photograph: Os Tartarouchos\/Getty Images<\/p>\n For Queensland\u2019s Rebecca Scurr, who shares what it\u2019s like to \u201csell fruit for a living\u201d to her 26,000 TikTok followers<\/a>, fruit-washing videos make her \u201ccringe so much\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no fruit, even resilient ones like apples, that are going to be better off for being washed and then put away,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cParticularly if it\u2019s something really soft, like a strawberry or raspberry \u2013 washing it when you\u2019re not about to eat it is the worst possible thing for shelf life.\u201d<\/p>\n Scurr is the fourth-generation operator of Pi\u00f1ata Farms, which supplies pineapples, strawberries, raspberries and mangoes to supermarkets across Australia. While she understands content creation is all about \u201cmaking things more aesthetic,\u201d she says a lot of the how-to content on FruitTok \u201cdoesn\u2019t make much sense\u201d.<\/p>\n For Prof Enzo Palombo, an expert in food microbiology and gastroenteritis viruses at Swinburne University of Technology, the key to fruit and veg hygiene is to \u201cbe cautious, but don\u2019t be paranoid\u201d.<\/p>\n He acknowledges concerns about the presence of bugs or dirt, pathogens that can cause diseases like listeria or salmonella, and the use of chemicals and pesticides. But he says: \u201cWe tend to think we need to consume 100% sterile food \u2013 you don\u2019t. Our body is designed to deal with these things, within reason.\u201d<\/p>\n Scurr says Australia has stringent regulations in place to protect consumers from pesticides and disease, \u201cparticularly if you supply a major retailer\u201d.<\/p>\n Despite this, as Dr Rozita Vaskoska, who leads the CSIRO\u2019s Microbial Food<\/a> Systems group says \u201csometimes random things can happen,\u201d so erring on the side of caution is always recommended, \u201cin case something accidentally ends up there\u201d.<\/p>\n Vaskoska says we should rinse produce under cold running water just before we eat or cut it. This includes vegetables and fruit with skin.<\/p>\n \u201cThe surface matters because as you cut it, the bacteria can move from the surface to inside in some instances,\u201d she says, pointing in particular to rock melon, which has been behind listeria outbreaks in the past<\/a>.<\/p>\n While they must be washed before going to market, rock melons\u2019 rough skin makes them difficult to fully clean, so they should be rinsed again, and even scrubbed with a clean dish brush, before consumption.<\/p>\n Tightly packed vegetables like cos lettuce should be thoroughly rinsed before consumption. Photograph: Wachirawit Iemlerkchai\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Bean sprouts, salad mix and tightly packed veg like bok choy or cos lettuce, which can end up with dirt trapped in their crevices, should all be thoroughly rinsed too.<\/p>\n Both rock melon and pre-packaged salads are particularly high risk for immunocompromised groups<\/a>.<\/p>\n Palombo says problems can stem from soil contamination in the growing process, where additives like chicken manure, which can contain salmonella, have caused rare infections.<\/p>\n There are risks once produce reaches supermarket shelves too. \u201cYou see people pressing all the mangoes, all the avocados; where have their hands been?\u201d<\/p>\n Cooking vegetables will eliminate most diseases of concern, Palombo says, with \u201cmost viruses and common bacteria like E. coli and salmonella killed by at least 60C\u201d temperatures, though Vaskoska reiterates it\u2019s still best to give everything a rinse prior to cooking, to reduce chemical hazards.<\/p>\n While there have been recent concerns about the use of pesticides, particularly in blueberry farming<\/a>, Vaskoska says \u201call chemicals being used by the industry are regulated,\u201d with some residue allowed to remain on the fruit, at a safe level.<\/p>\n But for Palombo, his \u201cnumber one rule\u201d when it comes to healthy fruit preparation doesn\u2019t have anything to do with soaking them in a bath of essential oils.<\/p>\n \u201cWash your hands,\u201d he says. \u201cIf you\u2019ve come home from the shopping and you\u2019ve touched things, you\u2019ve got in your car, give your hands a wash and then put away your groceries.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf most people follow that rule, 99% of the problems would disappear.\u201d<\/p>\n As for those internet-famous methods of deep-cleaning produce, Vaskoska says some approaches have shown \u201csome slight change in certain pesticides or certain bacteria\u201d.<\/p>\n But she says \u201cif it does one thing, it might not do another\u201d. A product that might slightly degrade some pesticides would not necessarily have a significant effect on microorganisms.<\/p>\n One study found it was more effective to peel the apple skin to remove pesticide residue. Photograph: d3sign\/Getty Images<\/p>\n For example, one study found<\/a> baking soda does degrade some pesticides on the skin of an apple, and goes further than the physical removal force of rinsing it under a tap. However, the same study concluded this method wasn\u2019t completely effective in removing residues that had penetrated through the apple peel, with peeling the skin more effective.<\/p>\n Another study<\/a> compared the effects of home-wash methods including baking soda, lemon and various vinegars on different types of pesticides in lettuce. It found rice vinegar removed the most pesticides on average. However, the effectiveness of each method varied across different pesticides<\/a>, with tap water slightly more effective than rice vinegar in one instance, and more effective than baking soda overall.<\/p>\n