Is It Safe to Eat Unwashed Apples While Apple Picking?

You’ll want to read this before your next trip to the orchard.

The weather is cooling down, which means an abundance of hearty local produce available throughout the country. Apples are at the top of the list, with many farms offering apple picking and other fun seasonal activities to celebrate the fall harvest. If you’ve never been on an apple orchard trip, the way it usually works is you pay a set price for a bag that you’re able to fill as you venture through the farm exploring different apple varieties. It can be tempting to grab fruit right off the tree and start tasting to see if you want more of that variety, but is that a safe thing to do?

The short answer is no for a number of reasons. Unwashed fruit can have a significant amount of pesticide residue and potentially harmful bacteria. Research has shown that foodborne causing microorganism Listeria Monocytogenes is most prevalent at the stem and base of the apple. There is also the possibility that bird feces fell on the fruit, and sometimes it’s not visible to the human eye. For this reason, many farms technically don’t allow you to eat fruit onsite and recommend you take the apples home and wash them properly.Head on over to FOOD NETWORK to read the full article!

You’ll want to read this before your next trip to the orchard.

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