Ewww. Thanks for the visual. That reminds me - I never, ever put food
or my purse in the seat part of the shopping cart for obvious reasons.

I'm a washer. A rinser, really. I can't bring myself to buy that
vegetable wash stuff.

Jean M
Loser and Quitter

Crafting Mom  burbled across the ether:

I remember catching a "diagnosis mystery" on one of the discovery
channels less than six months ago.  It was about some veggies that had
been rinsed in water before transport that had been contaminated.
Spread a nasty e.coli-like illness by way of the salad bar.  Moral of
the story-- rinse your produce well.  You have no idea what it has been
in contact with.

I've found suspicious little pellets in with veggies, so yes, I wash them.  Also,
there can be traces of mold forming that you can't see yet.  A fresh bunch of
spinach almost ALWAYS has gritty dirt on it.  And, of course, you don't know who
might have been handling it before you picked it up or it it fell on the floor at
one point.  We probably got all the microbes we needed when we were babies
crawling around and putting anything we could touch into our mouths.  

I saw a quickie news story that even bagged (and supposedly washed) vegees
contained harmful bacteria.

Yvonne

I always wash chicken and steak.  Don't wash ground products.

Sheila

Whenever I think of why I wash produce, I think of the poor guys out there
picking them.  I doubt very much that they have good sanitary facilities,
so if they answer nature's call, where do they wash their hands?  

It's always enough to make me wash carefully.  :-)

Chak

I've heard the minority proverbial "they" say that the microbes found
in the soil in which the vegetables grow are important cleansing
agents for our intestines/colon. Without these ever-present microbes in our
intestines and colon, we can develop cancers from build-up of waste on
the side walls and lining.

Are you generally more sick than most? Have you developed any
diseases, or often contract viruses? Do you feel as though not washing
your vegetables has made you vulnerable?

Do you feel stronger for not washing your vegetables? More healthy? Do
you have regular bowel movements? Do you feel as though it has hurt
you in any way? Helped you?

Just curious ...

I suggest that you don't buy any organic vegetables that grow at ground
level which you intend to eat raw.  Various organic lettuces, greens,
sprouts, and bagged organic salads have found to be contaminated with
E coli bacteria from improperly cured manure.  (20/20 report on organic
vegetables, April 2000)

There is also a type of anthrax bacteria commonly found in farm soils,
(although it's less virulent than the type that might be used as a
bio-weapon).

Personally, I avoid organic veggies, because the popular notion that they
don't use pesticides is false.  Organic farms are allowed to, and do use
so-called "natural" pesticides, including copper sulfate, rotenone, and
pyrethrum.  Modern commercial chemical pesticides break down in several
days of sunlight and water, and typically leave no measurable residue
by harvest.  This cannot be said for the pesticides used by organic farms.