Doctor Nguyen Xuan Mai, former Deputy Director of the Institute of Public Health Hygiene in Ho Chi Minh City, recommends.
Use for trusting advertising
On the product label of a company’s fruit and vegetable washing liquid, there are noticeable advertising lines: “Clean up all dirt, pesticide residues, preservatives, etc., safe for all meals”, ” Eliminate bacteria that cause digestive tract diseases: E. Coli, Salmonella, … protect the health of the whole family”, “Create a waterproof membrane, keep vegetables fresh for a long time”. And yet, this company also uses the slogan (slogan) to attract consumers: “Clean, safe, fresh”.
On the website of another company that produces and distributes fruit and vegetable washes, it also publishes praises for the product: “Vegetable wash… helps wash vegetables, remove pesticides and impurities thanks to the Active and specially formulated for vegetables. Fruit and vegetable washing water… does not contain substances that are harmful to human health.”
In fact, many consumers believe too much in the advertising of fruit and vegetable washing water, so they feel safe to use it. Ms. Huong (Go Vap, Ho Chi Minh City) said that family meals always have boiled vegetables and raw vegetables, so they often use water to wash vegetables. “The whole family has not been poisoned with vegetables so far, so I feel secure when using water to wash vegetables” – Ms. Huong confided. Meanwhile, Ms. Mai (Binh Thanh, Ho Chi Minh City) said that due to the sale of pancakes, she uses a variety of leafy vegetables. Although the price of vegetable washing water is not cheap, to avoid the risk of poisoning, she still buys it. “I see the quality of vegetable washing water as advertised, so I don’t worry about it,” Mai said.
Does not kill all pathogens
Doctor Nguyen Xuan Mai, former deputy director of the Institute of Public Health Hygiene in Ho Chi Minh City, affirmed that using water to wash vegetables and fruits costs money, reduces the quality of vegetables, and does not kill all pathogens.
According to Dr. Mai, there is no substance that “cleans up all dirt and pesticide residues” except for ozone aeration. However, ozone aeration only increases the safety threshold, but does not destroy all pathogens, clean up pesticides. It is also possible that the toxin in vegetables is eliminated after ozone aeration but is converted into another toxic substance, harmful to humans. “Besides, machines that use technology have two sides. If the energy that emits ozone is too strong, it will have a negative impact on health,” noted Dr.
Doctor Mai said that when buying vegetables, you must carefully look at the shape, color, and freshness (not crushed, wilted, scratched …). Fresh fruits and vegetables are always firm and heavy… The fruit stalks do not contain strange chalks, especially when they smell no strange odors. If there are pesticide residues, vegetables and fruits have a pungent and foul smell.
Nutritionist Dao Thi Yen Phi said that washing each vegetable leaf is always a safe and effective way to eliminate risk factors such as helminth eggs, pesticides, etc. Should soak vegetables in salt water for about 2 hours. 30 minutes for the residue on the vegetables to be soft and easy to peel off when washing. “It is important that the water source for washing vegetables must be clean,” said Dr. Phi.
According to Doctor Phi, there is a lot of information about clean vegetables. But whether clean vegetables are really clean, no one can be sure. However, if the vegetables have been tested and packaged according to the procedures that are certified for safety and hygiene, consumers are a little more secure. When using, still have to soak in salt water, wash each leaf with clean water.
