Issued December 1, 2011
A national campaign to promote the
need to wash raw vegetables before cooking is being backed by
Hambleton and Richmondshire District Councils.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) initiative
aims to remind people of the importance of washing raw vegetables
to help minimise the risk of food poisoning.
It comes in response to E.coli outbreaks in
Britain and abroad this year - including one linked to soil on raw
vegetables and another caused by contaminated sprouted seeds.
“The campaign will reinforce existing food
safety advice about storage, handling and cooking of food -
including raw vegetable,” said Hambleton and Richmondshire District
Council Environmental Health Manager, Philip Mepham.
“E.coli outbreaks linked with vegetables and
sprouted seeds have shown that handling fresh produce, particularly
if it carries particles of soil, can spread harmful bacteria.
But many people do not see the need to wash vegetables before
cooking – they do not consider this a health risk.
The campaign messages include:
- always wash hands thoroughly before and after handling raw
food, including vegetables
- keep raw foods, including vegetables, separate from ready to
eat foods
- use different chopping boards, knives and utensils for raw and
ready to eat foods, or wash thoroughly in between preparing
different foods
- unless packaging around vegetables says ‘ready to eat’ always
wash, peel or cook them before consuming
- Be careful when washing vegetables not to contaminate
preparation areas by splashing dirty water on them
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