Covid-19: 5 Tips To Keep Fruits And Vegetables Clean According To FSSAI

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has come up with guidelines to keep our fruit and vegetable produce safe and clean at all times.

It is important to maintain good food hygiene and cleanliness at all times.

Highlights

• Cleaning food is of the utmost importance before consumption
• FSSAI shared a few tips to keep fruits and vegetables clean
• Here are the tips as per the government organisation

Fruits and vegetables are the very basic ingredients which are used while cooking at home. Although they are cooked before consuming and need not necessarily be had raw, yet proper cleanliness and hygiene while bringing them into use is of the utmost importance. We must ensure that fruit and vegetable produce is clean and devoid of any germs, especially because of the heightened concerns around food safety in light of the global Covid-19 pandemic. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has come up with a few guidelines to keep our fruit and vegetable produce safe and clean at all times. If you have been a little too worried about the safety of the fruits and vegetables in your stock, you can take a cue. 

• The first tip was to keep the fruits and vegetables inside the packet in which it was bought from the vendor. Further, the packet should be kept in an isolated place for some time before it can be brought into use.
• To wash the fruit and vegetable produce, use lukewarm water. If necessary, just a single drop of 50ppm chlorine in a tub of warm water can be used for dipping the vegetables.
• The next step is to clean the vegetables with drinking water. This makes them fit for consumption and further cooking.
• It is not advisable to use disinfecting sprays, cleaning wipes or soap on fresh produce, as this can harm its quality and hamper the cleaning process. Only fresh water should be used in the cleaning process.
• As for storing vegetables or fruits in the freezer, it is not required at all. Those goods which may get spoilt should be stored in the refrigerator. Remaining vegetables can be stored at room temperature in baskets or racks.

The FSSAI has also released other tips to maintain good hygiene and sanitation while shopping for food and eating right. Take a look:

It is important to follow the right practices to ensure that our vegetables and fruits are fit for consumption. Do not resort to hearsay or myths around the same and only trust information from reliable sources.