261 points

Why would you expect tap water to kill bacteria?

You’re washing bugs and dirt off.

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27 points

Its also wash out bacteria.

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16 points

The mechanical action of water running and wiping is what takes out 90% of germs and bacteria already. Soap is only responsible for that next 9%.

There’s still 1% unless you autoclave it.

Tldr: You probably don’t need soap for dishes if you wash them during initial rinse immediately after use and they aren’t super gross.

You still want to wash and soap your hands cause 10% of cold germs is plenty.

Also quit licking your fingers to open the plastic bags for produce at the store you filthy fucks.

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8 points

Username checks tf out.
o7

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5 points
*

I mean that only seems like it’d be true if oil isn’t involved, since running water over something coated with oil seems like it’d do pretty much nothing

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13 points

the belief that a quick 3 second rinse will kill off bacteria seems to be consistent with the ways that most people try to wash their hands

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4 points

No I’m not!

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-70 points
*

I don’t think that salad bought in a store should have bugs and dirt on it, if you find them in your sink when you wash it you should change supermarket

EDIT: My bad, I was thinking about pre packaged salad, not like a whole head of lettuce, OP is correct and OOP should wash their lettuce better

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52 points

They’re definitely washed after being harvested, but as someone who has seen how it’s stored between that and the store shelves, I’ll give it a rinse every time.

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40 points

You might be thinking of pre-packaged salad which, while already washed, can still contain bacteria. But if you’re buying plain lettuce, it’s absolutely not pre-washed.

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6 points

Ah, you’re right I was thinking about the pre packaged one, now all the people telling me they have found multiple bugs in their lettuce makes sense considering I would probably expect to find small bugs and dirt in a whole head of lettuce

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1 point

I feel that they still spray it with water, even if not thoroughly, just to remove the biggest pieces of dirt. But I may be wrong.

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39 points

Bro people poop in the fields because they literally just don’t have time to go back to the restroom in between shifts of picking

And I don’t blame them in the slightest. They have a very hard job

So I don’t know about you but I will always be washing any produce that I buy at the grocery store as soon as I bring it in my house

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19 points

we’re not far off from grocery store workers having to do the same

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34 points

Lettuce grows in a bundle of very tightly packed leaves. At no part in the growing - transport - shelving - selling chain can anyone be expected to thoroughly wash between the leaves, especially near the root. Rinse your veggies before using.

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2 points

And that’s for iceberg lettuce. Romain and it’s kind have loose leafs so a ton gets in there. Bok Choi too, I cook with it a lot and I see a bit of dirt in there all the time. I always give my veggies a good rinse.

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30 points

Bugs mean fresh and no pesticides!

BUGS GOOD!

It’s like finding soil on your tubers. It’s better to have to wash it off.

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8 points

Also, unwashed potatoes will last longer, as water causes fungus and bacteria to grow.

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13 points

I don’t know where you live but I’m in Australia and I also lived in South America and I’ve seen plenty of dirt, caterpillars, aphids and flies too many times on my lettuce, harvested from different sources, seasons, and purchased from different supermarket chains and small grocer shops.

And it was never a problem for me. Where are you getting your sterile lettuce from, so I make sure I don’t?

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9 points

Even pre packaged, check the package to confirm if you need to clean it or not

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4 points

I don’t think

Yeah, we know…

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5 points
*

That’s literally me, that’s who you made fun of.

Do you feel bed yet?

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2 points

I’ve been using Original Commenter (OC) to talk about the person who starts a comment thread. Seems to be pretty intuitive. Wonder what the acronym would be for commenters responding to OC and starting different comment branches. Probably makes sense to just use their name

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3 points

OC already means Original Content so at best you will just be confusing people.

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2 points

I feel like OP can be used to mean either the original thread poster or the author of a branching comment, granted that it’s properly contextualized, e.g. multiple layers of O lol. It’s awkward, but it gets the point across.

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65 points

Who rinses things to remove bacteria? I just want to remove dirt.

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7 points

We tell ourselves these lies, as we fear the truth.

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6 points
*

Only because you don’t like the color, or maybe the texture of dirt? We wash off dirt because it’s dirty, and dirty things aren’t good for us (because of bacteria…).

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12 points

Eating a little bit of dirt probably won’t hurt you, but it is unpleasant.

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11 points

Also because gritty lettuce makes a salad I don’t eat. Spinach is the worst . . . plus it seems to have Listeria from time to time . . . 3.2 second wash minimum

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2 points

Both the texture and whatever may be in it are undesirable.

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37 points

Ha bacteria! It’s not the water you should be worried about.

It’s the quart gallon of vodka I wash it down with each night, as I try to blot out my existence.

Fuck you bacteria (and my liver), I WIN!

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4 points

If you really think about it your liver is just a massive collection of bacteria

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32 points

The level of idiocy needed to think that the reason you rinse it is to kill bacteria is disturbing to imagine.

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59 points

You wash because of the pesticides.

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35 points

Also the bugs, fecal matter, and dirt that can be in the folds and pockets.

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10 points
*

Ok, but what about the salad lettuce?

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3 points

We are talking about washing lettuce, prior to it becoming a salad.

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18 points

You wash it because of the ratlungworm that raw snail and slug can give you.

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5 points
*

Oh fuuuuck. Nature is crazy 😬

Shit like this is why I don’t believe there’s a god

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0 points

They’ve studied that and it doesn’t get rid of pesticides.

To get rid of pesticides you need to immerse it in a baking soda solution for about 20 minutes.

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13 points

They’ve studied it and you’re wrong

https://portal.ct.gov/caes/fact-sheets/analytical-chemistry/removal-of-trace-pesticide-residues-from-produce

The correct answer is 9/12 pesticides are removed by Simple rinsing with water. Detergents do not improve results compared to mechanical removal via rinsing for 30 seconds.

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3 points
*

At a minimum rinse all fresh produce under tap water for at least thirty seconds.

The mechanical action of rubbing the produce under tap water is likely responsible for removing pesticide residues.

Personally I wouldn’t call mechanical action of rubbing to be rinsing. I would have liked to see the % removed, but skimming that article I didn’t see. Also in my experience people don’t rub for 30 literal seconds, the people I watch are lucky to break 5 seconds.

But the main point I want to make is that baking soda is a base that breaks down the pesticide.

Liang [4] studied the removal of five organophosphorus pesticides in raw cucumber with home preparation, and the research results show that washing by tap water for 20 min only caused a pesticides reduction of 26.7–62.9%. Sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate solution caused a pesticides reduction of 66.7–98.9%.

The removal efficiency of other washing solutions outperformed the tap water; tap water washing only caused a 10–40% loss of the 10 pesticides, and the AlEW, micron calcium, and active oxygen solution caused a 40–90% loss of the 10 pesticides.

AIEW being alkaline electrolyzed water, which I understand to be baking soda.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6388112

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4 points

Probably depends a lot on the pesticides and therefore country…

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2 points

Thank you. I thought that pesticides wouldn’t come off with simple rinsing.

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