Washing Greens/Produce in the Kitchen Sink

Jed said...

Quoted message said:

I was channel surfing and passed Ina Garten washing arugula in her
"kitchen" sink and have seen other food show hosts doing the same.

Is there anyone in RFC who is sure that their kitchen sink is clean
enough to wash greens in it?

Even if I soaked the sink in a Chlorox solution for a couple of hours,
I'm not sure I would feel brave enough to use it for that purpose.

I'll chop or pull greens and sit them in the salad spinner and fill it with
water and spin a couple times.

Next, I pull the strainer of veggies out, pour the water out, rinse the
outer bowl and separately rinse the strainer of greens. Reassemble the
strainer of greens back into the bowl, and spin dry.

Wash the salad spinner normally afterwards.

Andy

Jed' zyzygy@plenipôtentiary.com.invalid said:

I was channel surfing and passed Ina Garten washing arugula in her
"kitchen" sink and have seen other food show hosts doing the same.

Is there anyone in RFC who is sure that their kitchen sink is clean
enough to wash greens in it?

Even if I soaked the sink in a Chlorox solution for a couple of hours,
I'm not sure I would feel brave enough to use it for that purpose.

I do it all the time. I make sure it's clean, but don't obsess about it. If
you're willing to wash a dish (that had raw meat on it) by hand and then eat
off it later, it's about the same thing. Most things having to do with
sanitation involve flushing the bad stuff away rather than killing it. Most
things are never really sterile, what you are doing is reducing the bacteria
count down so low that it can't reproduce to a harmful level in a short
time.

Remember that the dish towel that you dried your wine glass with may have
been washed in the same laundry load as the bath towel that you dried your
tush with. Does that make it unsanitary? For that matter, the same hand that
wiped your behind with was washed (I hope) and then used to put a french fry
in your mouth. You didn't cut your hand off and get a new one! ;-)

--
wff_ng_7 (at) verizon (dot) net

wff_ng_7 said...

Quoted message said:

If
you're willing to wash a dish (that had raw meat on it) by hand and then
eat off it later, it's about the same thing. Most things having to do
with sanitation involve flushing the bad stuff away rather than killing
it. Most things are never really sterile

One thing that you hear the food TV cooks say, after they've saturated
themselves in chicken parts, etc., is to wash your hands with soap and hot
water.

Now I've seen those same cooks turn on the hot water faucet, dispense soap,
wash their hands and then turn off the water.

It seems (in order) they've contaminated the water faucet, contaminated the
soap dispenser, washed their hands and then recontaminated their hand again
turning off the water.

That is unless there's some brilliant sleight of hand they don't show.

I've seen them work with possibly bacteria laden food with both hands so
I'm keen about that not being the magic.

Andy

"Jed" <zyzygy@plenipôtentiary.com.invalid> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]

Quoted message said:

I was channel surfing and passed Ina Garten washing arugula in her
"kitchen" sink and have seen other food show hosts doing the same.

Is there anyone in RFC who is sure that their kitchen sink is clean
enough to wash greens in it?

Even if I soaked the sink in a Chlorox solution for a couple of hours,
I'm not sure I would feel brave enough to use it for that purpose.

Do you eat off of dishes that were washed in that same sink?

BOB

"Jed" <zyzygy@plenipôtentiary.com.invalid> wrote

Quoted message said:

I was channel surfing and passed Ina Garten washing arugula in her
"kitchen" sink and have seen other food show hosts doing the same.

Is there anyone in RFC who is sure that their kitchen sink is clean
enough to wash greens in it?

Quoted message said:

Even if I soaked the sink in a Chlorox solution for a couple of hours,
I'm not sure I would feel brave enough to use it for that purpose.

Heh. I was taken to task on this subject. Some show advised
you not wash poultry. Why? Because you might then wash
salad greens in the same sink, thus contaminating it with chicken
germs. Uh, that won't be a concern for me.

Personally, I don't touch my food to my sink. I have dishes
and pots and cutting boards, etc., to hold my food. Salad
greens? Are they so heavy you can't hold them while washing
them? Then get a bowl or a colander or something.

nancy

Andy said:

wff_ng_7 said...

Quoted message said:

If
you're willing to wash a dish (that had raw meat on it) by hand and then
eat off it later, it's about the same thing. Most things having to do
with sanitation involve flushing the bad stuff away rather than killing
it. Most things are never really sterile

One thing that you hear the food TV cooks say, after they've saturated
themselves in chicken parts, etc., is to wash your hands with soap and hot
water.

Now I've seen those same cooks turn on the hot water faucet, dispense soap,
wash their hands and then turn off the water.

It seems (in order) they've contaminated the water faucet, contaminated the
soap dispenser, washed their hands and then recontaminated their hand again
turning off the water.

That is unless there's some brilliant sleight of hand they don't show.

I've seen them work with possibly bacteria laden food with both hands so
I'm keen about that not being the magic.

Andy

If you have ever handled a whole chicken, and indulged your hands into
the fat, parts, et cetera. You should realize that a quick lather and
rinse is not going to take off the fat and possible bacteria from your
hands. Matter of fact, probably the drying with the towel is taking off
more fat/bacteria from your hands than the water.

You need a good sponge and a lot of elbow grease to really do a good job.

To really sterilize a food you really need to give it fire, gamma rays
(which I assume most here don't have access to.) And for spores, you
need pressure and fire. For prions (infectious proteins (mad cow, et
cetera,) it's not even known if autoclave denatures the proteins
completely.

Latex free gloves are a very good alternative.

HTH,

R

BOB said:

"Jed" <zyzygy@plenipôtentiary.com.invalid> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]

Quoted message said:

I was channel surfing and passed Ina Garten washing arugula in her
"kitchen" sink and have seen other food show hosts doing the same.

Is there anyone in RFC who is sure that their kitchen sink is clean
enough to wash greens in it?

Even if I soaked the sink in a Chlorox solution for a couple of hours,
I'm not sure I would feel brave enough to use it for that purpose.

Do you eat off of dishes that were washed in that same sink?

Yes, but I usually (wastefully) wash my dishes under running water.

I'm not a rabid bacteriaphobe, but it seems to me that a sink that can
harbor bits of raw meat in the drain seams as well as soap and
chemical residue just isn't the ideal place for soaking produce and
the like. It triggers the "ick factor" for me.

I'd prefer to fill a cleaned, seamless pot for soaking things like
that, when necessary, or washing the produce under running water by
hand or in a collander.

Nancy Young said:

"Jed" <zyzygy@plenipôtentiary.com.invalid> wrote

Quoted message said:

I was channel surfing and passed Ina Garten washing arugula in her
"kitchen" sink and have seen other food show hosts doing the same.

Is there anyone in RFC who is sure that their kitchen sink is clean
enough to wash greens in it?

Quoted message said:

Even if I soaked the sink in a Chlorox solution for a couple of hours,
I'm not sure I would feel brave enough to use it for that purpose.

Heh. I was taken to task on this subject. Some show advised
you not wash poultry. Why? Because you might then wash
salad greens in the same sink, thus contaminating it with chicken
germs. Uh, that won't be a concern for me.

Personally, I don't touch my food to my sink. I have dishes
and pots and cutting boards, etc., to hold my food. Salad
greens? Are they so heavy you can't hold them while washing
them? Then get a bowl or a colander or something.

nancy

Xactly; I don't let the greens touch anything but the water.

R

In article <[email hidden]>,

Jed zyzygy@plenip?tentiary.com.invalid said:

I was channel surfing and passed Ina Garten washing arugula in her
"kitchen" sink and have seen other food show hosts doing the same.

Is there anyone in RFC who is sure that their kitchen sink is clean
enough to wash greens in it?

Even if I soaked the sink in a Chlorox solution for a couple of hours,
I'm not sure I would feel brave enough to use it for that purpose.

Oh please!!!

:-P
--
Peace, Om

Remove _ to validate e-mails.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a [censored]" -- Jack Nicholson

In article <[email hidden]>,

Nancy Young said:

"Jed" <zyzygy@plenipôtentiary.com.invalid> wrote

Quoted message said:

I was channel surfing and passed Ina Garten washing arugula in her
"kitchen" sink and have seen other food show hosts doing the same.

Is there anyone in RFC who is sure that their kitchen sink is clean
enough to wash greens in it?

Quoted message said:

Even if I soaked the sink in a Chlorox solution for a couple of hours,
I'm not sure I would feel brave enough to use it for that purpose.

Heh. I was taken to task on this subject. Some show advised
you not wash poultry. Why? Because you might then wash
salad greens in the same sink, thus contaminating it with chicken
germs. Uh, that won't be a concern for me.

Personally, I don't touch my food to my sink. I have dishes
and pots and cutting boards, etc., to hold my food. Salad
greens? Are they so heavy you can't hold them while washing
them? Then get a bowl or a colander or something.

nancy

I wash mine in a screen strainer, but that's for convenience, not
because I'm afraid of germs in a sink I keep clean and scrubbed!
--
Peace, Om

Remove _ to validate e-mails.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a [censored]" -- Jack Nicholson

"Omelet" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

"Nancy Young" <[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Personally, I don't touch my food to my sink. I have dishes
and pots and cutting boards, etc., to hold my food. Salad
greens? Are they so heavy you can't hold them while washing
them? Then get a bowl or a colander or something.

Quoted message said:

I wash mine in a screen strainer, but that's for convenience, not
because I'm afraid of germs in a sink I keep clean and scrubbed!

What are the logistics of that. You wash the chicken and scrub
down the sink with some impeccably clean sponge or something.
Then you make the rest of the meal, putting dirty dishes or cooking
apparatus in there, then scrub again when it's time to make the
salad. If nothing else, I'm far too lazy to keep scrubbing the sink all
the time. Just me, I don't use my sink as a food surface.

nancy

Jed <zyzygy@plenipôtentiary.com.invalid> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

I was channel surfing and passed Ina Garten washing arugula in
her "kitchen" sink and have seen other food show hosts doing
the same.

Is there anyone in RFC who is sure that their kitchen sink is
clean enough to wash greens in it?

I do all the time. Have done it for years this way and so does my
mom and family. I have stainless steel sinks that I scour (with
cleanser) to keep clean.

Quoted message said:

Even if I soaked the sink in a Chlorox solution for a couple
of hours, I'm not sure I would feel brave enough to use it for
that purpose.

Use a big new bowl or tub if that would make you feel better.

Omelet said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Jed zyzygy@plenip?tentiary.com.invalid said:

I was channel surfing and passed Ina Garten washing arugula in her
"kitchen" sink and have seen other food show hosts doing the same.

Is there anyone in RFC who is sure that their kitchen sink is clean
enough to wash greens in it?

Even if I soaked the sink in a Chlorox solution for a couple of hours,
I'm not sure I would feel brave enough to use it for that purpose.

Oh please!!!

:-P

ditto.. well we do agree on this. lol

jay

Andy' q said:

One thing that you hear the food TV cooks say, after they've saturated
themselves in chicken parts, etc., is to wash your hands with soap and hot
water.

Now I've seen those same cooks turn on the hot water faucet, dispense
soap,
wash their hands and then turn off the water.

It seems (in order) they've contaminated the water faucet, contaminated
the
soap dispenser, washed their hands and then recontaminated their hand
again
turning off the water.

That is unless there's some brilliant sleight of hand they don't show.

I've seen them work with possibly bacteria laden food with both hands so
I'm keen about that not being the magic.

As you point out there is often a chain of events along which there is a
inevitable mistake. The touching of the faucet handle is one of those
events. That's why in hospital operating room situations they would have
faucets with the long handles that could be turned on and off with the
elbows or faucets with a foot pedal. That's also partly behind the sensors
installed on sinks, toilets, paper towel dispensers and hand dryers in
restrooms so that nothing has to be touched. The other reason of course is
to save water and make sure the toilet actually gets flushed.

A lot of the phobias people have are encouraged by manufacturers to sell
more, like all these fancy sanitizer products for the home. Unfortunately
fear sells. Some other products sold on fear are:

- four wheel drive vehicles
- GM's OnStar service
- home security systems
- pesticides and pest control services
- gated communities

To me one of the greatest examples of playing with people's fears to sell
something was justifying the Iraq war based on terrorism, followed by the
selling (re-electing) of Dubya based on his superior capacity to protect us.
I think a majority of the American public feels they were snookered on that
one by now.

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" - FDR

--
wff_ng_7 (at) verizon (dot) net

Jed zyzygy@plenipôtentiary.com.invalid said:

I was channel surfing and passed Ina Garten washing arugula in her
"kitchen" sink and have seen other food show hosts doing the same.

Is there anyone in RFC who is sure that their kitchen sink is clean
enough to wash greens in it?

Yes

Quoted message said:

Even if I soaked the sink in a Chlorox solution for a couple of hours,
I'm not sure I would feel brave enough to use it for that purpose.

And I don't attempt to sterilize it with chlorine either. I do wash
it carefully however.

Are your dishes or utensils washed in the same sink? How come they
are clean enough to eat off?

Is the water in your plumbing sterile? If it was would washing your
salad with it remove all microbes? Will rinsing your dishes with
water straight out of the tap achieve 100% cleanliness?

What about the air in your kitchen including above your sink, is it
free of microbes?

How about your hands or gloves?

We live in a microbiological soup. Our houses, posessions, food, air,
water and our bodies inside and out are infested with billions of
bugs.

You should take steps to make your food and things in contact with
your food _sufficiently_ clean to be harmless. They will never be
sterile.

This means you *will* ingest some microbes every day. You have been
living with this situation all your life, there is no reason to lose
sleep over it now or to waste time and effort over pointless rituals
that achieve nothing much.

David

Jed' zyzygy@plenipôtentiary.com.invalid said:

Is there anyone in RFC who is sure that their kitchen sink is clean
enough to wash greens in it?

I was thinking about this some more after looking at what some others have
posted. Basically if you can wash a container clean, you should be able to
use it to wash greens. But some things you just can't get completely clean
due to their design... so I guess that rules out the toilet bowl. Too bad,
because it would be great for washing greens with all that water going
around in a circle... kind of like a salad spinner! ;-)

--
wff_ng_7 (at) verizon (dot) net

Jed said:

I was channel surfing and passed Ina Garten washing arugula in her
"kitchen" sink and have seen other food show hosts doing the same.

Is there anyone in RFC who is sure that their kitchen sink is clean
enough to wash greens in it?

Even if I soaked the sink in a Chlorox solution for a couple of hours,
I'm not sure I would feel brave enough to use it for that purpose.

Didn't we just do this fear.. I mean, topic recently?
Yes. My sink obviously is cleaner than yours. I have few qualms about
letting food touch it. I wash it out as necessary and don't have dirty
dishes and food in there.

Andy said:

One thing that you hear the food TV cooks say, after they've saturated
themselves in chicken parts, etc., is to wash your hands with soap and hot
water.
Now I've seen those same cooks turn on the hot water faucet, dispense soap,
wash their hands and then turn off the water.
It seems (in order) they've contaminated the water faucet, contaminated the
soap dispenser, washed their hands and then recontaminated their hand again
turning off the water.
That is unless there's some brilliant sleight of hand they don't show.
I've seen them work with possibly bacteria laden food with both hands so
I'm keen about that not being the magic.

I think that problem is that many of those demo kitchens don't have
water, or at least hot water many times. They're faking it. WE at home
can do better.

Richard Periut said:

To really sterilize a food you really need to give it fire, gamma rays
(which I assume most here don't have access to.) And for spores, you
need pressure and fire. For prions (infectious proteins (mad cow, et
cetera,) it's not even known if autoclave denatures the proteins
completely.

Latex free gloves are a very good alternative.

Odd.. I think using them for the home kitchen is a bit neurotic. LOL
Why would you imagine food is supposed to be "sterile" during normal
meal prep? It isn't going to be.