Food Protection Trends - January/February 2017 - 70

GENERAL INTEREST PAPER

Fruit and Vegetable Washing
in Food Retail Environments
Anna Starobin1* and Sally Foong-Cunningham2
1

Ecolab Inc., 8300 Capital Drive, Greensboro, NC 27409, USA

Ecolab Inc., 370 Wabasha St. North, St. Paul, MN 55102, USA

SUMMARY
Consumption of fruits and vegetables is encouraged as
part of a healthy diet by The Dietary Guidelines for Americans for 2010. If the benefits of fruits and vegetables are
to be enjoyed, they need to be handled properly at all steps
along the supply chain, from farm to fork. Approximately
131 produce-related outbreaks occurred between 1996 and
2010. These outbreaks resulted in 14,132 illnesses, 1,360
hospitalizations and 27 deaths, and were associated with
approximately 20 fresh produce commodities. Food retail
plays a big role in providing safe produce to consumers.
This paper gives an overview of the procedures used by
retail establishments and explains the reasons for some of
the practices recommended in industry guidelines.
OVERVIEW
Fruits and vegetable are known to be a good source of
many important nutrients, including potassium, vitamin C,
folate, fiber, and numerous phytochemicals (3). Vegetables
and fruits with high levels of fiber may reduce the risk of
obesity and type 2 diabetes; those rich in potassium may
lower blood pressure and lower the risk for kidney stone
development (13). Aside from being recommended for
weight management, fruit and vegetable consumption is
recommended for bone development and chronic disease
risk management (2, 14).
Worldwide concern and knowledge about foodborne
illness have been steadily increasing over the past several
decades. Historically, the problem of microbiological contamination of fruits and vegetables was not considered significant, since it was originally believed that the low pH of
fruits and vegetables would control the contamination (15).
In addition, few outbreaks were associated with fruits and
vegetables because of the lack of adequate pathogen identification technology. Today, it is increasingly recognized that
raw fruits and vegetables are vulnerable to contamination,
since final consumption occurs without a cooking step. In
view of the complexity of the vegetable washing procedure,
this paper summarizes recommendations provided by various guidelines and research papers for proper handling of
fruit and vegetables in food service establishments.
* Author for correspondence:
Phone: +1 336.931.2185
Fax: +1 336.668.9763
E-mail: anna.starobin@ecolab.com

Food Protection Trends January/February

Based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) evaluation of estimated foodborne illnesses,
hospitalizations, and deaths due to food commodities in the
United States between 1998 and 2008, it is estimated that
46% of illnesses and 23% of deaths were produce related
(4). Twenty-two percent of illnesses were associated with
leafy vegetables, which were the main items associated with
illnesses within the produce category, which resulted in
14% of hospitalizations and caused 6% of deaths (4).
A variety of microorganisms have been linked to foodborne outbreaks connected to the consumption of raw
fruits and vegetables. These organisms, which can contaminate fruits and vegetables, come from multiple sources
outside of the food service establishment, including water,
wild animals, soil, harvest containers, harvest crews and
handlers, inadequate hygiene of buildings and equipment,
transportation and storage. The complexity of contamination sources, both upstream and downstream, from the
receiving door of the restaurant, retail deli or other food
service facility is shown in Fig. 1 (5).
Microbial contamination can be caused by bacteria,
viruses, parasites, molds and yeasts. According to the Food
and Drug Administration (FDA) database between 1996
and 2010, bacterial agents (86.5%), parasites (11.6%) and
viruses (1.9%) were associated with the majority of fresh
produce-related outbreaks and illnesses (12) (Fig. 2).
Pathogens involved in these outbreaks include Escherichia
coli O157:H7, Salmonella species, Listeria monocytogenes,
Cyclospora, Shigella sonnei, Hepatitis A and norovirus (4,
12). Sprouts, leafy greens, tomatoes, melons (e.g., cantaloupes and honeydew melons), berries, herbs and green
onions accounted for 88.5% of the total produce-associated
outbreaks (12).
In addition to food safety risks that are introduced
upstream in the supply chain, improper handling of fruits
and vegetables in the food service establishment can lead
to microbiological cross-contamination and/or growth of
pathogens that are already on the produce. Effective hand
washing coupled with thorough cleaning and sanitation, as
well as suitable storage and proper handling procedures of
fruits and vegetables, can reduce this risk. Most microbial

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