Food studies professor says it is important as ever to wash all produce

It’s always important to eat fruits and veggies and now more than ever it is also important to keep your produce clean.

News 12 spoke to an expert on the best ways to wash produce during the coronavirus pandemic.
"Use common sense you know, wash your hands, you handle the stuff, you take your vegetables out, you wash them the way you always would and if you didn't always wash them then now would be a good time to wash them,” says Marion Nestle/Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, Emerita, NYU.
Marion Nestle is a professor at New York University specializing in nutrition, food studies and public health.
She, along with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration say there is no evidence proving COVID-19 can be passed along through food.
However, she says that doesn’t mean people shouldn’t wash all produce.
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Nestle suggests running produce through water for at least 20 seconds.
"The soap is going to get into whatever pores are on the vegetables. You're not supposed to eat soap, there's a reason why it tastes so bad. And there really isnt any evidence that soaping vegetables makes them healthier,” says Nestle.
As for their containers, studies have shown the virus could live on plastic for up to 72 hours.

"The evidence that the viruses on packaging for example, comes from experiments where the virus was deliberately put on the vegetables,” says Nestle.

For things prewashed, the answe is always better washed or cooked than sorry, according to Nestle.

"When in doubt, cook it. If you got vegetables I've been sitting around for a while and you're worried about it, cook them. They'll be fine and so will you,” says Nestle.