You really should be washing your avocados before eating them
Sitting at your desk about to smugly munch into some avo on toast?
Stop right there.
Did you wash that avocado before you chopped it, mashed it, and spread it?
You really should have.
The FDA (the food and drug administration in the U.S.) has issued a warning that its vital to wash your avocados before you eat them, because theyve found bacteria such as salmonella and listeria on the skin of avocados tested over the last 18 months.
And no, peeling the avocado and just not eating the skin wont protect you entirely.
When you slice through your avocado, the knife could carry bacteria from the skin into the avocados flesh, which you then put in your mouth.
Oh, cool. Thats horrifying.
Plus, 0.24% of the avocados the FDA tested had listeria within their edible bits. A small percentage, sure, but thats not a risk were up for taking.
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To protect yourself, you need to give your avocado a good scrub before you start slicing it. Give it a thorough wash under running water, then scrub the skin with a clean produce brush and dry with a bit of kitchen roll.
The FDA also recommends chucking out avocado skin speedily so any bacteria cant transfer to other surfaces, and eating avocados shortly after slicing the fruit – so dont leave your avo sitting out on the counter once youve peeled it.
The agency collected 1,615 samples of both imported and domestically grown avocados to test for the presence of salmonella and listeria bacteria, and found that listeria was present in 0.24% in the avocado pulp samples, and in 17.73% of the avocado skin tested.
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At low levels, listeria wont cause severe illness, but it can pose a risk for pregnant women, older adults, and people with weakened immune systems.
There are no cases yet in which people have become ill due to eating avocado, but the FDA prefers to be safe than sorry – even bacteria found on 1% of avocados would prompt a warning.
They concluded that salmonella may be present on the skin of avocados and listeria may be present on the skin or in the fruit, so its vital for avocado growers to comply with FDAs produce safety guidelines, and for avo fans to wash their fruit before eating it.
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