produce can become contaminated with salmonella shigella or e. coli during growing harvesting processing storing or shipping. it’s particularly important that you wash your spinach lettuce tomatoes sprouts and melons before handling or cutting them. wash all fruits and vegetables under running water before eating cutting or cooking unless they’re packaged and marked “prewashed. ” produce with a tough outer skin like melons and cucumbers can be scrubbed with a clean produce brush and warm soapy water before you cut into them — just in case there is bacteria on the peel. unwashed hands are the most common cross-contamination agent between raw meat poultry seafood eggs unwashed vegetables and ready-to-eat foods according to a study on food handling behaviors published in the journal of the american dietetic association. wash your hands longer and more often than you think you should. scrub hands together vigorously for at least 20 seconds with hot soapy water. it takes that long for the soap and scrubbing to remove some of the germs.
what food safety tips can reduce potential exposure to e. coli?