The Scary Mistake You’re Making When Buying Fruits And Vegetables At The Grocery Store

To start, never touch fruits and vegetables with your bare hands, Dr. Stacy Mobley, N.M.D., M.P.H., a licensed Naturopathic Doctor and Certified Ayurvedic Wellness Counselor, says. Especially the items that you are not purchasing!

Why? "COVID-19 is transmitted through droplets," she explains. "If someone coughs or sneezes, these droplets will fall near where they coughed. This includes a person coughing into their hands (as opposed to their elbows). If they cough or sneeze around the fruits and vegetables, the droplets can fall on them."

If you don't have gloves, you can use the grocery store-provided plastic veggie bags to pick up produce to look at or place in your cart.

Secondly, you should wash the fruits and vegetables that you do buy.

As Dr. Jeanne Breen, Infectious Disease Physician and Researcher and Melissa Lunch, Co-Founder of Force of Nature, assert--this is always true, even in non-outbreak times.

"Fruits and veggies may look fresh and clean, but the truth is that even organic ones come home with contaminants like soil and bacteria which can lead to food poisoning," Dr. Breen advises.

So--how should you wash them during the coronavirus outbreak with the threat of transmission lingering? "Washing your hands properly after returning from the store, and wash the produce with running water (no other product truly needed)," Dr. Mobley advises. "Then wash your hands before cooking."

Dr. Breen suggests taking the process a step further by spraying your produce with an EPA-approved cleaning solution like Force of Nature to kill any bacteria. 

Force of Nature Starter Kit ($89.99)