lol’ing at that ladies’ quotes
regulators have the power to set the tone that encourages industry to do the right thing
if the public makes their voice heard, legislators will act
These people must live under a rock
lol’ing at that ladies’ quotes
regulators have the power to set the tone that encourages industry to do the right thing
if the public makes their voice heard, legislators will act
These people must live under a rock
I'm a chemist in the flavors industry with a bunch of food microbiology experience, hopefully I can alleviate some fears here.
Any kind of non-processed (or minimally processed) produce that you consume is going to have countless microbes on it - I know that dry seasonings like garlic powder usually harbor microbes on the scale of thousands or tens of thousands per gram, occasionally hundreds of thousands per gram. With produce the microbes will mostly be on the outside surfaces, I haven't done any testing on produce specifically but I wouldn't be surprised if the numbers are similar. This is normal and expected, and not a concern unless some of those microbes are pathogenic.
Just rinsing your produce with water will remove a lot of these microbes. Cooking thoroughly will kill practically all of them, at that point you'd only have to be concerned about residual toxins from pathogens that wouldn't be destroyed through cooking.
Not all microbes are pathogens, otherwise we'd all be dead right now. Very few of them are actually dangerous to humans.
Not all bacteria are coliform bacteria. Not all coliform bacteria are fecal coliform bacteria. Not all fecal coliform bacteria are E. coli. Not all E. coli strains are pathogenic. Obviously there are other pathogens to worry about besides E. coli, but this is just an example.
Pulling a carrot out of the dirt and immediately sticking it in my ravenous maw and being surprised when my teeth are coated in dirt