COVID-19 has changed most every part of our everyday lives, and with the little we know about this new virus, it seems the rules are changing daily. When it comes to fresh produce, the rules are simple and the risk is less than you may think. As restrictions are loosening up, it’s important to remember that we still need to take precautions and that the Coronavirus is still contagious. Here’s what we all need to keep in mind.
Safe Food Handling
The good news is that COVID-19 has not been shown to be transmitted through food. Food packaging hasn’t been shown to spread the virus, but it does live on objects for up to 5 days. So there are precautions we need to take, and good habits we need to maintain.
- Hand washing: Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds in warm water before and after handling food. To make sure you and your family wash your hands thoroughly and for the right amount of time, sing the Happy Birthday song when washing your hands.
- Wash your fruits and vegetables: Run them under tap water, and scrub firm fruits and veggies with a food brush before eating or cooking with them. It’s important to wash the rinds or the parts of the produce that you’re not going to eat. You don’t want anything from the outside spreading to the inside, or the part that will be eaten. Use either a veggie wash or just plain water. Do not use soap to wash your produce.
- Dispose of packaging: Since there is a slight chance of the virus being on objects, you may want to get rid of the packaging that food comes in and store in your own washed containers, or disposable bags.
Bottom line is, though spreading the Coronavirus through food is not a big concern, it’s still best to do our part to stop this thing any way that we can.
Daily Harvest Express as an Essential Business
As an essential business Daily Harvest Express has changed the way we operate in several ways. We have been closely following the guidelines set forth by the County of San Diego Health and Human Services since COVID-19. Some of those include:
- Closing our store front
- Providing masks, gloves, wipes etc for our employees
- Requiring masks for any visitors
- Daily disinfecting often used surfaces
- Expanding our warehouse facilities to allow for social distancing
- Added extra safety precautions for packing
- Drive through pick up of boxes for customers
Your health and safety are our top priority, and we feel blessed to be a small part of your wellness.
Local & Fresh is Still Better Than Frozen, Canned or Truck Ripened
Since the beginning of the pandemic, it’s been reported that 40% of shoppers are changing the way they buy produce. Decreasing trips to the grocery store is a wise precaution right now. In addition to that, many are choosing frozen or canned fruits and vegetables to minimize human contact with food. Others are increasing the consumption of fresh produce to stay healthier. Whatever life throws at us, local and fresh is still better than frozen or canned.
- Shelf Life: Fruits and vegetables begin to lose their nutrients once they are picked. So, the longer they sit in a warehouse, on a truck, or in a store, the less nutrients the food has to offer. And grocery store produce is picked before it is ripe. So the nutrients from the soil aren’t even fully in the fruit or veggie to begin with. When you eat locally grown produce, the food from goes from the farm to your kitchen in 1-2 days! Many times, our farmers will pick produce for us the morning they deliver.
- Processing: Any form of processing takes food from its natural state and leaves us with less of the goodness for our bodies to absorb.
- Immune Boosting: We can boost our immune systems against the Coronavirus as we do during cold & flu season. This starts with healthy eating. When you eat what is naturally in season, you get foods that naturally absorb nutrients in the soil. This is not the case with any fruits or vegetables that are harvested out of season, or picked before they are ready.
With every challenge in life there is potential for growth. The year 2020 and Coronavirus has changed our lives in ways that we would never have imagined. Though things will get back to a new normal at some point, we still have some simple takeaways from this season. We can summarize by saying – keep clean, be careful, consider others, and eat local.
Get this list of immune boosting foods to stock up on from NBC.
If you’d like to know how long the virus lives on surfaces, visit this page from WebMD.
To learn how COVID-19 spreads through objects, pets, water, and food, go to this article from the Mayo Clinic.