Transcription
Does washing produce really protect you from the explosive diarrhea outbreak that's been spreading throughout some areas of the United States? Maybe partially if you do it right.
Cyclosporiasis is a disease caused by the Cyclospora parasite, which spreads when you eat food or drink water that has been infected by human feces, which unfortunately is a common thing for a lot of produce, especially berries which don't get washed before purchase because that makes them spoil fast. Maybe think about that next time you want to eat a raspberry before washing it.
But unlike your parasitic worms, these guys are single-celled protozoa, way smaller than a typical parasite, barely larger than a bacteria, which makes them able to get into those [music] nooks and crannies and really hang on, especially in a bumpy fruit like a raspberry.
This study compared three different at-home washing methods on three different types of parasites for both raspberries and blueberries. Rinsing under tap water for 1 minute worked fairly well for blueberries, but for the raspberries, for Cyclospora in particular, it got rid of only 35% of them. They're like biological glitter, if glitter gave you explosive diarrhea, which now that I think about it is a terrifying thought.
But when the berries were put in a bowl with one part vinegar and three parts water and then swirled around for a minute and then washed off for 30 seconds, or swished for a minute in a bowl with plain water but then spun dry with a salad spinner, it got rid of way more, but not all. And we don't actually [music] know the infectious dose, but consuming more at once is probably worse.
In one outbreak, two wedding guests who had had an extra helping of the berry dessert got the most sick. Not proof, but suggestive of a dose response. Thankfully, the outbreaks are still small enough that I wouldn't just stop eating all the fresh produce entirely if I were living in an affected area, because produce is healthy and stopping would be its own health detriment. And at least if you get sick, there is an antibiotic treatment.
But in the meantime, here are the other top food safety recommendations for you to screenshot and save.