Is Fruit and Vegetable Wash Safe?

March 5, 2019, by Debra Lynn Dadd

Question from LM

Hi Debra,

I buy organic produce but I still feel like I have to wash it. Are the "non-toxic" fruit and vegetable washes safe? I'm reading the ingredients for a popular one by ECOS that sells at my local food co-op and the ingredients are:

• Water

• Alcohol Denatured. (corn-derived solvent)\

• Decyl Glucoside (plant-powered surfactant)

• Potassium Sorbate (food grade preservative)

• Citric Acid (plant-powered pH adjuster)

Comments? Thanks Debra!

Debra's Answer

I can’t make a case for this product being “toxic.” It certainly doesn’t contain any of the major chemicals of concern. So in that sense I would have to call it toxic-free.

But here’s my concern. It’s basically an industrial product made from industrial ingredients. Yes the source material for these ingredients are plants, and they appear to be organic (at least there is an organic logo on the label, though nothing says “organic” in the ingredients list.

So these plants are put into a factory and broken down in some way into industrial ingredients that are then combined in a factory into a wash that you are going to push on your organic vegetables and fruits.

Just look at this for a moment. You’ve purchase organic produce. Now you are going to clean it with industrial ingredients. The first ingredient is water. Hmmmm. What kind of water. Probably tap water. If you are buying organic produce you probably are using filtered water. We don’t know what their water is. They are not telling us.

Is this really a necessary product? What is it that you want to remove from your organic produce with this product?

I just rinse my organic produce with filtered water. I’ve never used produce washes and don’t find them necessary.

UPDATE 3/17/19

I just found a very long list of certified biobasaed fruit and vegetable washes.

If this is a product you are interested in, this list would be a good place to compare what percentage of their ingredients are not petroleum.