Food Safety: From your garden to your plate

Homegrown foods can be an excellent source of fresh vegetables, small berries and herbs and, today, home gardens are more popular than ever. You can keep it safe by following a few simple rules.

Many bacteria are naturally present in some soils. Their presence on fresh produce is not uncommon. Some micro-organisms contaminate produce through raw or improperly composted manure. If you are composting vegetable scrapes and other materials, follow research-based guidelines. There is science behind the process of composting. To reduce the risk of contamination, do not use manure in your compost bin.

Pathogens are illness causing microorganisms. Many pathogens cause problems with fresh produce, as you have heard in the news lately. E. coli O157:H7, however, is of particular concern because only a few cells are needed to cause illness. The illness can progress quickly to cause severe consequences in susceptible people, particularly young children and older people.

Location, location, location: Locate your garden in an area with the least potential for animal contamination. Keep pets, livestock and wildlife out of the garden, especially during the growing season. Depending on where you live, this could mean building a fence to keep deer and other wildlife out. This will prevent them from depositing fecal material onto garden soil and exclude direct contact with your vegetables. E. coli lives in fresh manure and even aged manure.

Using contaminated water on your garden can also be a serious problem. Always use potable (drinkable) water to irrigate your garden. To avoid E. coli contamination, always use potable water on produce you plan to harvest and eat. You may need to have rural well water tested. In the kitchen

Washing produce with plain tap water most often is all that is needed. Recent studies have shown that soaking in vinegar water is a particularly effective way to reduce E. coli on fresh produce such as lettuce and apples.

According to Colorado State University Extension, adding vinegar to the water (½ cup distilled white vinegar per one cup water) followed by a clean water rinse. This special wash has been shown to reduce bacterial contamination but may affect texture and taste. After washing, blot dry with paper towels or use a salad spinner to remove excess moisture.

A salt-water rinse is sometimes used to drive insects out of vegetables like cauliflower or squash blossoms. This is a rinse not soaking. The insects come out immediately. Soaking will drive natural water out of the vegetables, which is not good.

• ·Wash hands thoroughly before working with food and after working in your garden or with soil or compost.
• ·Thoroughly wash all raw fruits and vegetables before eating them. This not only helps remove dirt, bacteria and stubborn garden pests, but it also removes any residual pesticides.
• ·Separate and immediately rinse leaves of spinach, lettuce, etc., just before using. Using a clean sink or pan, fill with cool tap water. Swish the leaves around in the water, then drain in a colander. Grit and sand will sink to the bottom. Repeat until there is no grit in the bottom of your sink or pan.
• ·Wash and peel potatoes, carrots, yams and other root vegetables, or clean them well with a firm scrub brush under lukewarm running water.
• ·Clean and sanitize cutting boards, utensils and surface areas used to prepare any raw food before using them to prepare another produce, especially if that food will be eaten raw.
• ·Making a sanitizing solution: Use one tablespoon regular chlorine bleach in one gallon cool tap water (do not add detergent). Immerse cutting boards and utensils for 30 seconds then air dry. Do not use extra chlorine, more is not better. Too much will be toxic.
• ·DO NOT wash produce with detergent solutions. Fruits and vegetables are porous and can absorb the detergent, which is not intended for use on foods and consuming them on fruits and vegetables have the potential to make you sick.

In the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at the University of Maine, researchers tested three commercial wash treatments (Fit® by Proctor & Gamble, Ozone Water Purifier XT-301 and J0-4 Multi- Functional Food Sterilizer). Each was used according to the manufacturer’s directions. None were more effective than produce washed in distilled water. These commercial preparations are costly and they are not necessary.

For more information on gardening, composting, harvesting, storing and preparing fresh garden produce, visit the University of Illinois Urban Programs Resource Network Web site and click on the bright yellow Sunflower icon at http://urbanext.illinois.edu. Watch Your Garden Grow is a comprehensive site on gardening. Enjoy the summer bounty of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Prepared by Drusilla Banks, Extension Specialist Food Science & Nutrition Programming; University of Illinois Extension at Wright College.