Have you had a nice big salad lately? If the daily onslaught of news about Cyclospora outbreaks and recalls caused by fresh lettuce has you reaching for the canned corn instead, I get it. I worked for more than a decade at a food safety laboratory, and the list of foods I considered never eating again got pretty long. But I never gave up on fresh fruits and veggies, because often the line between getting sick and feeling great is as simple as cleaning them the right way.
That’s where things tend to go off the rails. When we’re in our own kitchens, we tend to get a little complacent. We clean regularly, we wipe up spills promptly—what’s the big deal if a grape rolls into the sink? Usually, everything’s fine, but germs don’t care about the five-second rule, or how clean your kitchen looks. Even if you’re diligent, you might be doing things completely wrong by following outdated safety advice or faddish trends making the rounds on social media.
Ahead, I talk to Amy Johnston, the statewide food safety educator with the University of Minnesota Extension, and Steve Wagner, an attorney who specializes in foodborne illness litigation, to cut through the bad advice and give you solid, science-backed ways to improve your chances of not getting sick when preparing fresh fruits and vegetables. Read on, and dig in.
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Before you start: Here’s what to know
Your first step to clean produce is clean tools: cutting boards, knives, dishes and hands. The FDA recommends washing hands with warm, soapy water for at least 20 seconds before and after cleaning any produce. Next, “always take a moment to clean and sanitize the sink, including the faucet, the drain and any kind of surrounding counter space,” Johnston says. Always use sanitizers that are labeled food safe, she says.
The next hard-and-fast rule is to use cool, running water only. “Warm or hot water can cause certain produce to go through a shock,” Johnston says. “So if there is anything on the outside of that produce, it can get sucked in through the skin or peel into the fleshy part that you’re going to eat.” Wagner says the same goes for soap: “Never use any soaps or detergents, and certainly no bleach, as your produce can absorb the residue.”
Use a produce brush to scrub produce that can handle it (the list is coming up). “Those bristles can really help get into the nooks and crannies that can trap different kinds of contaminants and dirt,” Johnston says. And you don’t have to worry about re-washing bagged produce. “The things that are pre-washed or triple-washed don’t need to be washed again, as doing so might recontaminate them from other surfaces,” Wagner says.
Finally, it’s important to keep in mind that no cleaning protocol will eliminate all risk. These safe practices are proven to reduce the presence of microorganisms, not get rid of them entirely.
What about the Cyclospora parasite?
“Unfortunately, with Cyclospora, the only way to get rid of it is to cook the produce to at least 158 degrees Fahrenheit,” Johnston says, which is not ideal for produce that’s usually eaten raw. “People think washing it handles the problem, though it’s a bit more detailed, since a rinse can get rid of surface bacteria, but a parasite needs heat to be completely neutralized,” Wagner adds.
“As for E. coli or Salmonella, just running water with friction applied to the surfaces, and keeping it refrigerated below 40 degrees, is usually enough when there’s not an outbreak like this going on,” Wagner says. “During an outbreak, as we currently have, just stay informed of what’s being announced by government agencies, which might, in some cases, be to skip a certain product entirely for the time being.”
Here’s how to clean eight major groups of fruits and vegetables.
Leafy vegetables
For years I filled up my sink and soaked bunches of spinach, lettuce and kale to remove grit. What I didn’t realize is that this could actually introduce more germs than I was removing. “If there were any contaminants on that produce, they could absorb them if you’re letting them soak,” Johnston says. That’s because the delicate leaves are porous (yes, even hearty kale) and can take up contaminants as they sit in the water.
Instead, discard the exterior leaves and rinse the rest under cool running water. If the bunches came from your garden or the farmers market and you’re worried about grit, you can do a “plunge,” Johnston says. Put the leafy greens in a large colander, then dunk them repeatedly into a large bowl or clean sink filled with cool water. Drain and rinse with fresh running water.
Apples and firm veggies like squashes and cucumbers
“Firm produce should be scrubbed under running water with a produce brush or even your clean hands to remove any pathogens,” Wagner says. But don’t do it when you get home from the store; wait until right before you eat or prepare them. This promotes a longer shelf life and reduces the chance of early spoilage (this is true of all produce). If you have to rinse early, like if the produce is visibly dirty and you don’t want that in your fridge, make sure to dry the produce well with a clean paper towel.
What about the waxy coating on apples? Johnston says you do not have to try to remove this. Apples actually produce their own natural wax as protection against bacteria and to retain moisture, but field washing after harvest strips it away. To keep the fruit from spoiling, producers add a food-safe wax before shipping to stores. “As long as producers are following FDA requirements, then those coatings are safe to eat,” Johnston says.
Berries and soft-skinned fruit
Strawberries, raspberries and other fruits with soft skin bruise easily, so skip the scrub brush here. Cut off bruised areas or throw away suspect individual berries so they don’t spoil the whole bunch. Then place berries in a colander and rinse under cool running water, ideally with a kitchen sprayer. (You can also do the dunking method like with spinach and other leafy veggies.)
Tomatoes, ripe peaches and anything with delicate skin also fall into this category.
Root vegetables, melons and produce you peel
For hearty root veggies, melons and tropical fruits like papaya, get out the produce brush and give them a good scrub under cool running water. This goes for things with edible peels, like potatoes and carrots, as well as produce where the peel gets discarded. Why wash a peel you plan to throw out? Because with every slice of the knife, dirt and germs on the outside will get transferred to the inside.
“When you’re done washing produce, clean and sanitize that scrub brush,” Johnston says. “If you have one that’s dishwasher safe, that’s great.” Just throw it in the dishwasher so it’s ready the next time you use it.
Herbs
For bunches of herbs, wait until you are about to use them, then place them in a colander and rinse under cool running water. Give them a good shake and turn them with your hands as you rinse. You can also do the plunge as described above.
Cilantro and parsley were recently suspected in a Cyclospora outbreak, so follow Wagner’s advice and stay alert to recalls and guidance from government agencies to stay safe.
Grapes and cherries
There are lots of nooks and crannies in small, clustered fruits like grapes and cherries, so you might think you need to soak them to get them clean. Nope. “It’s easy to think that more time in water will make produce cleaner, but it’s the total opposite,” Wagner says. “Only moving water running out of the tap is the safest way to clean these foods.”
Clean grapes and cherries right before you plan to eat them, not before. De-stem the fruit and place it in a colander. Spray them with a kitchen sprayer if possible, or hold them under cool running water. Use your clean hands to gently massage the fruits between your fingers, and give the colander a good shake after doing the final rinse.
Mushrooms
For years, the guidance around mushrooms was to just wipe them with a damp paper towel to remove surface dirt. But, like other moisture- and nutrient-dense fruits and vegetables, mushrooms provide an ideal environment for microbial growth, according to a 2026 study published in Frontiers in Microbiology.
So go ahead and follow the Mushroom Council’s advice and rinse mushrooms under cool running water. Do this right before using them, not before. A sprayer works great here, as does rubbing the mushrooms with your fingers to remove clinging dirt. I’ve been rinsing mushrooms for years and haven’t noticed any problems with texture or water retention, but pat them dry with a clean paper towel for best results.
Broccoli and cauliflower
Guidance from the FDA and food safety experts on cruciferous vegetables sounds familiar: Rinse with cool running water. I like to hold the head upside down as the water runs through all the crevices and give it a good shake, then rinse it in a colander.
If you have broccoli or cauliflower fresh from the garden, the Colorado State University Extension says you can encourage bugs to leave the heads by soaking them for a few minutes in salt water (4 tablespoons salt to 1 gallon of water). Make sure to rinse well.
What about using baking soda, vinegar and produce washes?
“None of those have been shown to be more effective than just washing and scrubbing under cool running water,” Johnston says, at least when it comes to bacteria and other microorganisms. She adds that produce washes and home remedies are not sanitizers anyway. “So you really don’t have to spend your money on those other things,” Johnston says.
“Baking soda is backed by recent research showing better removal of pesticides on the surface compared to just water or other solutions,” Wagner says. “The key here is that it’s just ideal for surface pesticides, as anything that has penetrated the skin is harder to remove even with soaking in baking soda.” Research is evolving on this front, and government agencies and scientific experts continue to stress the use of cool running water only.
Sources:
- Amy Johnston, statewide food safety educator with the University of Minnesota extension; phone interview, July 27, 2026
- Steve Wagner, co-founder and managing partner at Wagner Reese LLP; email interview, July 27, 2026
- University of Minnesota Extension: “Washing fresh fruits and vegetables safely”
- FDA: “Selecting and Serving Produce Safely”
- Washington Post: “Yes, you need to wash fresh mushrooms. Here’s how.”
- Mushroom Council: “Mushroom 101: FAQs”
- University of Minnesota Extension: “Sanitizing equipment and food contact surfaces”
- Colorado State University: “How to use broccoli”
- Frontiers in Microbiology: “Microbial contamination and microbiome composition of fresh edible mushrooms: a critical review”
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