Health Tip: Fruit and Vegetable Safety

Raw fruit and vegetables provide vital nutrients and vitamins. But they may also harbor harmful germs, such as Salmonella andE. coli.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests how to select and store fruit and vegetables:

Select producethat doesn’t look bruised or damaged.
Keep precut fruit and vegetables cold.Refrigerate it or keep it on ice.
Separate fruit and vegetablesfrom raw meat, poultry and seafood in your shopping cart, in your grocery bags and in your refrigerator.
Washhands, knives, cutting boards and countertops before and after preparing fruit and vegetables.
Washproducebefore eating, cutting or cooking.
Even fruit and vegetables with a peel should be washed, so you won’t contaminate the fruit when you cut into the peel.

Source: HealthDay