By Darbie Granberry
University of Georgia
Almost anything can make us sick, including pure water, if we
consume too much at one time. But what about the serious
illnesses we normally call “food poisoning”?
The biggest fear has always been getting food poisoning from
meats. In the past few years, though, we’ve found that improperly
grown, packed or shipped fresh fruits and vegetables can lead to
serious illness, too.
Can vegetables from our own gardens make us sick? Possibly, if
they’re contaminated with human pathogens such as hepatitis A,
Salmonella and E. coli 0157:H7.
The good news is that the chance of anyone in the United States
getting sick from garden vegetables is remote. Human pathogens
don’t occur naturally on vegetables.
Safety key
So how do people sometimes get sick from eating produce?
Contamination, contamination, contamination.
Whenever produce is grown, packed or shipped under poor sanitary
conditions, there’s always the chance it will be contaminated and
become a health hazard.
The November 2003 outbreak of hepatitis A is a prime example.
Green onions harboring the hepatitis virus caused more than 600
illnesses and three deaths in Pennsylvania.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates there
are 76 million foodborne illnesses a year in the United States.
Every year more than 325,000 people are hospitalized and 5,000
people die from eating contaminated food.
As you might guess, the greatest concern is for the fruits and
vegetables you eat raw as snacks and in salads. Some scientists
link nearly as many foodborne illness cases to produce as to
poultry, beef and fish combined.
Simple steps
To make sure no one gets sick from eating fruits and vegetables
from your garden:
- Use good personal hygiene.
- Don’t apply manure to your garden.
- Keep animals out of your garden.
- Use only drinking-quality water for irrigation.
- Use clean containers when you harvest.
These are the most important safeguards you can use in the
garden. Keep in mind, though, that food safety begins in the
garden but doesn’t end there.
In the kitchen
When you prepare fruits and veggies to eat, don’t forget to use
the kitchen faucet. Hand-scrub firm produce such as apples,
pears, tomatoes and bell peppers under running water.
Spray root vegetables and tubers with water, scrub them with a
vegetable brush and then rinse them.
Wash vegetables with rinds, such as watermelons and cantaloupes,
too. If the surface isn’t clean, you can transfer bacteria to the
flesh when you cut them.
No one should get sick from eating produce from your garden. You
can make sure they won’t by using good sanitation and following
sound gardening practices.
Enjoy your garden produce. But remember, the best food safety in
the world can’t protect you from the ills of overindulgence.
(Darbie Granberry is an Extension Service horticulturist with
the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences.)
