We’ve all been waiting for that first tomato or salad from our garden, and it is time! There are some things to do to help keep that produce safe, both homegrown and purchased. Here’s some advice and some tips from the FDA:

When preparing any fresh produce, begin with clean hands. Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds with soap and warm water before and after preparation. Make sure the sinks are clean and sanitized, and countertops, too.

Scrub and sanitize your cutting boards in-between cutting different vegetables. Make sure to scrub and sanitize these cutting boards thoroughly, especially if you use your cutting board to process meat products. If the cutting board is getting deep cuts and scratches, take a drill with a circular sandpaper and use water with this to sand it down to a smooth finish. Cuts can hold bacteria.

When you get ready to prepare your produce:

Cut away any damaged or bruised areas on fresh fruits and vegetables before preparing and / or eating. Throw away any produce that looks rotten. Look for insects in leafy greens and on broccoli. Some worms are hard to spot!

Wash all produce thoroughly under running water before preparing and / or eating, including produce grown at home or purchased from a grocery store or farmers’ market. Keep the water slightly warmer than the vegetables so the skin doesn’t contract and possible suck contaminated water into the vegetable.

Washing fruits and vegetables with soap, detergent or commercial produce wash is not recommended by the FDA because produce is porous. Soap and household detergents can be absorbed by fruits and vegetables, despite thorough rinsing. Also, the safety of the residues of commercial produce washes is not known and their effectiveness has not been tested.

Even if you do not plan to eat the skin on the produce, like onion skin, potato skin etc., it is still important to wash produce first so dirt and bacteria are not transferred to the part you will be eating when peeling or cutting produce.

Scrub firm produce, such as melons and cucumbers, with a clean produce brush and warm water. Some skins can hold dirt very well, such as the skin on cantaloupes.

After washing, dry produce with a clean cloth towel or paper towel to further reduce bacteria that may be present on the surface.

Remember if you are canning your produce to follow recommended procedures. Any product in a reduced oxygen environment such as found in a sealed canning jar is at risk for botulism bacteria growth and toxins if not canned properly. Botulism can be fatal! Good practices can be found on the Ball canning jar site, with visual tutorials too.

https://www.ballmasonjars.com/canning-preserving-guides.html

Enjoy your summer produce! Jennifer Heller EHS Brown County Health Dept.

Jennifer Heller is the environmental health specialist for the Brown County Health Department. She is responsible for restaurant inspections, septic installation inspections, vector issues, farmer’s markets and home base vendor questions and complaints. She also chairs the Terrorism and All Hazards Preparedness Committee for the Indiana Environmental Health Association and will be the president-elect of that organization in 2022. She can be reached by at [email protected].

Jennifer Heller is the environmental health specialist for the Brown County Health Department. She is responsible for restaurant inspections, septic installation inspections, vector issues, farmer’s markets and home base vendor questions and complaints. She also chairs the Terrorism and All Hazards Preparedness Committee for the Indiana Environmental Health Association and will be the president-elect of that organization in 2022. She can be reached by at [email protected].