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Fruits And Vegetables You Should Wash Before Eating (VIDEO)

Should You Wash An Avocado Before You Eat It?

Serious question: Does produce with thick and hard skin need to be washed?

We may sometimes forget to wash our fruits and veggies before consumption, but let's be honest — we may skip washing things like lemons, melons and bananas altogether. In the video above, expert Marge Perry from MyRecipes.com says a lot of people think if they aren't eating the skin of a fruit or veggie, it doesn't need to be washed.

Perry goes through the best practices when it comes to each fruit and vegetable and talks about bacteria levels found on different types of skin. She also adds (in another video), organic produce should also be washed — because even if pesticides weren't used, it was still exposed to plenty of dirt.

An U.S. Food and Drug Administration study published in 2012 found that 50 to 57 per cent of people were washing cantaloupes, while 96 per cent said they were likely to wash strawberries and tomatoes. The study also went into detail on how to wash produce properly, and revealed that over 40 per cent of people who washed strawberries simply held them under water, while 20 per cent either soaked them or used cleaners. Neither of these methods are considered particularly effective.

So what's the verdict with avocados? Watch the video above to find out.

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