Authored by: UrbanWale Blog Contributor, Nisha Singhania
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, India is facing a complete lockdown to control its transmission. The government is taking various security measures to flatten the coronavirus curve. As the cases of COVID-19 are increasing day by day, the government has extended the lockdown period by two more weeks. As many are claiming that food product are likely to spread coronavirus. Till now health experts do not make any strong statement about this. We need to wait for CDC and FDA reports.
So far we do not have a single case, which has been infected due to the consumption of food or vegetables. But this period is so important that we need to make additional efforts to prevent COVID-19 propagation. Usually, we take care that we eat food products without germs. But for this particular period, we have to change the mode of cleaning and buying food products.
The best way to avoid the spread of coronavirus is to order your food online as it will reduce the chances of exposure to many people. Online vendors make additional efforts to deliver quality food products to local vendors. We suggest that you buy your food products from reliable sources only. Urbanwale is one of the best online fruit and vegetable vendors in Jamshedpur. You can easily bring fruits and vegetables to your home on time using the Urbanwale application. This will also save time.
Why it is necessary to Sanitize Fruits and Vegetables?
Before the emergence of Novel Coronavirus also it is important to clean the Fruits and Vegetables. But now we have to be more serious about it. Always make sure whatever you are eating is dirt and germ-free. Before coming into actual use food items passed through the long journey. And comes in contact with chemicals, dirt, wax, etc. So it can be dangerous if you eat directly without washing them. In America every year lot of people suffer from the foodborne disease.
COVID-19 can be another serious disease that can infect a person due to lack of sanitization of fruits and vegetables. Because the coronavirus infected person may have touched it and the virus may still be alive on that particular food item. However, so far there is no strong evidence behind the transmission of COVID-19 through food articles and packed articles. But still, it is necessary to take measures to protect oneself.
It does not matter whether there is a risk of an epidemic or not, but we should always consume fruits and vegetables to keep the immune system strong.
Best Way To Sanitize Fruits and Vegetables
In fact, the Trusted Food Products Organization like CDC (Centers of Disease Control and Prevention) and FDA (food and Drug Administration) has not issued any specific methods to purify fruits and vegetables related to the novel coronavirus pandemic. Still there are some people who are using very dangerous ways to clean the fruits and vegetables. Due to Coronavirus fear they are unable to analyze the risk of sanitizing food products by using chemicals, soaps, hand sanitizer and alcohol. So we request you that don’t use these cleaning agents to virus-free food items.
List of Effective Methods To Sanitize Fruits and Vegetables
Making food items free of contamination is not an easy task as you need to be more vigilant to thoroughly clean fruits and vegetables. Here are some environmentally friendly ways to make fruits and vegetables germ-free.
• Remember To Wash Hands
It is a very the important task before performing any activity in order to sanitize fruits and vegetables. As your hands are the most effective mode of transfer virus from one source to another. Many people forget to wash their hands even before eating food. So we advise do not forget to clean your hands. You can wash your hands from any soap for the 20s. WHO recommended a minimum of 20s to makes your hand completely germs-free.
• Do not wash food items just before eating
The second important thing to remember is that do not wash the food items just before eating. Because moisture is something that gives rise to bacteria at a faster rate. If you are eating instant wash fruits and vegetables then it may give growth to additional bacteria germs. Although it is not going to affect you in the short term. But weaken your immune system day by day without your acknowledgment. So it is necessary to take care of you to stay fit and healthy.
• Use fresh Cold Water
It is highly recommended that use fresh cold water to clean fruits and vegetables. Wash the fruits and vegetables carefully without reducing its nutritional value. Even you can add salt and baking soda to cold water and leave them for half an hour. Then wash them with regular water. After washing keep those in sunlight for a short duration like 5 to 10 minutes. It is one of the best ways to sanitize fruits and vegetables for more effective results.
Note: If you are ordering food from outside, make sure that you do not use them directly. Remember to destroy the top layer of packaged food articles that you have received from an external source. And later clean your hands and then use food items for further usage.
Some fruits and Vegetables need your special attention. These are strawberries, apple, spinach, mushrooms, sweet corn, potatoes, tomatoes, peaches. So we recommend you make sure that you purchase organic fruits only to decrease the chance of getting infected.
Secondly, food items like cauliflower, cabbage, onion, Papaya, sweet peas, kiwi, pineapple, melon need a serious washing of cold water for 35s.
These are the effective tips that going to help you during this outbreak of coronavirus. Be alert and remember to sanitize fruits and vegetables before eating. It is time to be smart in your choices. Become smart by choosing UrbanWale application to order quality fruits and vegetables online. Stay at home, get all your services from Urbanwale and provide support to the government.