The soap, along with a scrubber to get into the nooks and crannies, should be sufficient to remove surface bacteria.
Washing the surface will not remove bacteria that have penetrated into the fruit. I always throw fruit away if it has a break in the skin.
I believe that it is common practice to wash produce with bleach when it is picked. So it comes from the farm clean, but all kinds of stuff can happen between the farm and the store. Plus, in the store, people like to feel produce before they buy it—and they could have anything on their hands.
Thanks. Good post. Good information.
Vinegar is a good choice for washing fruits and vegetables. Or lemon juice, but the cost of that is prohibitive. I would not use peroxide, as someone posted here. It can be carcinogenic to mucus membranes at higher concentrations. (It is considered safe to occasionally use hydrogen peroxide, 5%, further diluted by HALF, as mouth rinse or wound cleanser.) I don’t think bleach is used commercially, to wash fruits and vegetables, but I may be wrong. I asked the owners of our state’s largest peach orchard, if they wash their fruit, and they said they did not. So I wash their fruit in vinegar before canning it, even though processing should kill all germs. I’m less concerned with contamination from birds, etc., than I am from people. As a nurse, I can tell you that most people do not wash their hands properly, and even if they do, they then turn off the faucet, with whatever was on their and everyone else’s hands in the first place, still on the faucet, now back on their “clean” hands. And I always wipe down the handles of the shopping cart, as well as the seat, when I shop. And knowing that most grocery stockers are guys, and who knows where THEIR unwashed hands have been, just about anything in the store should be wiped down or at least rinsed. I am VERY conscientious about washing my hands, and after being around sick people over a quarter of a century, I have never gotten the flu, and I never get a flu shot. And I rarely get a cold.