Having recently suffered from food poisoning, I’ve become a little more vigilant about germs in the kitchen. Although it was shellfish poisoning, which is quite common, you can get food poisoning from a variety of sources – so smart to be super careful. I’ve been using white vinegar and hydrogen peroxide for years to clean my food.
Instead of a veggie wash, you can easily just fill a sink with cold water and add 1/2 cup of white vinegar and 1/2 cup of hydrogen peroxide. Soak for 15 minutes and then rinse. This, however, wastes a lot of water, so use the simple sprayers instead:
- You will need 2 sprayers. I like to get opaque sprayers, especially for the peroxide, as it’s light-sensitive. I found a large opaque silver sprayer at Smart & Final, which is perfect.
- Fill one sprayer with food grade hydrogen peroxide (which is what will be on sale at the grocery or drug store.) Fill the other with white vinegar. Label your sprayers clearly.
How To Disinfect Your Food:
Before spraying my veggies, I lay out either a clean dish towel, or a few sheet of 100% recycled kitchen towel on my clean counter top.
- Produce: Simply rinse of any dirt and/or bugs. First spray with the vinegar and then the peroxide. There is no need to rinse. Lay them out to on the towel to dry.
- Meat: It’s really important to disinfect meat too, and you use exactly the same procedure as above: spray with vinegar and then peroxide. No need to rinse.
Hydrogen peroxide is 100% effective at removing all contaminants, including E. coli and Salmonella. Vinegar also works well to remove waxes and pesticides. Remember cooking a piece of food well will deal with most of these contaminants, but when you are eating raw food, such as salad, you are very susceptible to these poisons.
Don’t forget! You must spray food packaging too – especially meat and fish packaging and the packaging that it has come into contact with. You obviously can’t spray cardboard or paper, but you can spray plastic packaging. When you are done with any food preparation, you can also spray the counters*, fridge shelves and the sink down with the hydrogen peroxide.
*Be careful using these sprays on marble and vinegar can dissolve marble. Instead, you can use the Method Home Counter Sprays, which smell wonderful.
Hi there,
Must I use food-grade peroxide? If so, where can I find it? I have the 3% from the store. From what I read on the internet, the food-grade is 35% and must be dilluted before using. I have never heard of using peroxide and want to be sure it is ok to ingest since it is not rinsed off the food after applying it. Thank you!
“food grade” hydrogen peroxide is what is typically sold in the drugstore, grocery store etc. You do not have to dilute it for this spraying method.
I’m still not sure how I feel about ingesting peroxide. How can we know this is safe?
Is a grapefruit extract spray cleansing enough?
Hi,
I also find that using a few drops of good quality colloidal silver diluted in water to wash my veges or meat works a treat!
Tammy
If you read the back of your 3% hydrogen peroxide bottle you will see it can also be used as an oral debriding agent, or mouthwash. Like other mouthwashes you don’t want to swallow it but you always get a bit of diluted solution through your saliva as you rinse, no harm done so I wouldn’t worry about it on your veggies…Thanks Sophie I haden’t thought of spraying me veggies although I use both of these items for cleaning frequently!
how about the recipe you gave when you were on the oprah show? is that more effective?
as it also had baking soda and i believer grapefruit extract…
one you said was an overall disenfectant and one was for washing vegetables
can you clarify please
thanks
Hi Liz
I’m always experimenting and updating. The recipe I showed on Oprah is great, but this method is sometimes quicker and easier if you have a ton of produce you want to prepare.
Pingback: pack it good | Gorgeously Green
Just a quick correction. There is a difference between Hydrogen Peroxide that you purchase at the drugstore or grocery store. Those usually sold at grocery/drug stores have stabilizers in them. Food grade hydrogen Peroxide does not and is very concentrated, as you mentioned. You are much better off (healthwise) to use the food grade. You could try a whole foods store or the internet to find food grade Hydrogen Peroxide. It is not readily available at the grocery store!