Life is too short to stuff a mushroom, as Shirley Conran once said, but what about scrubbing it free of pesticides? To gauge how much you need to bathe fresh produce, first consider whether it's one of the Dirty Dozen — a list of pesticide-infused shame compiled last year by the Environmental Working group in Washington (available from www.foodnews.org). Based on analysis of more than 100,000 US government pesticide results, it named and shamed peaches, apples and bell peppers as the top three fruit and vegetables to hold the highest levels of pesticide residue.
But don't let this instill a false sense of security — health professionals are adamant that all fresh produce should be cleaned to remove potential pathogens.
This includes organic. In fact, critics of organic produce are at pains to point out that the spinach in the 2007 outbreak of Escherichia coli (E. coli) in Californian was grown using “organic methods.” Perhaps more significantly, it was also processed using industrial methods. Even produce sold as
“pre-washed” needs to be washed.
DISHING THE DIRT
Again, increasingly, this includes organic pre-washed. Organic produce used to wear clods of dirt as a badge of honor, symbolizing its relatively simple and wholesome, traceable journey from plot to plate. This is still the case at farmers' markets, with more local produce, and often with box schemes — and to be fair this is more than
cosmetic. A bit of soil also helps to
preserve the product as it gets to market.
But that depends where your market is. It would be bad economics and against food-hygiene rules to import a large amount of earth with your runner beans. As organic produce has been annexed by big commercial enterprises, it is increasingly scrubbed up in huge pack houses that bring together produce from large numbers of farms for a dousing.
CHLORINE DRESSING ANYONE?
A day in the life of a carrot includes an initial wash, a polish with water to remove grit and a spot of hydro-chilling with cold water before being inspected by mechanical optical graders, where it might not make the grade in any case. More energy often goes into cleaning and packaging fresh produce than goes into actually growing it. This is particularly true of cut greens, such as lettuce, which are washed in ice baths to remove debris, followed by the routine use of chlorine to sanitize bagged salads.
However, rather than providing extra security, pack-house innovations (including chlorine) make me want to empty leafy greens into the sink as soon as I buy them, scrub potatoes and peel carrots. In fact, it actually makes me want to steer clear of pre-washed or pre-bagged at all. I would even use a pH-balanced fruit and vegetable wash that lifts off and kills pathogens on fresh-cut produce. I cannot promise that I will never again moan about scrubbing potatoes, but I'd rather keep veg prep as a kitchen sink drama.
That US assistance was a model for Taiwan’s spectacular development success was early recognized by policymakers and analysts. In a report to the US Congress for the fiscal year 1962, former President John F. Kennedy noted Taiwan’s “rapid economic growth,” was “producing a substantial net gain in living.” Kennedy had a stake in Taiwan’s achievements and the US’ official development assistance (ODA) in general: In September 1961, his entreaty to make the 1960s a “decade of development,” and an accompanying proposal for dedicated legislation to this end, had been formalized by congressional passage of the Foreign Assistance Act. Two
Despite the intense sunshine, we were hardly breaking a sweat as we cruised along the flat, dedicated bike lane, well protected from the heat by a canopy of trees. The electric assist on the bikes likely made a difference, too. Far removed from the bustle and noise of the Taichung traffic, we admired the serene rural scenery, making our way over rivers, alongside rice paddies and through pear orchards. Our route for the day covered two bike paths that connect in Fengyuan District (豐原) and are best done together. The Hou-Feng Bike Path (后豐鐵馬道) runs southward from Houli District (后里) while the
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President William Lai’s (賴清德) March 13 national security speech marked a turning point. He signaled that the government was finally getting serious about a whole-of-society approach to defending the nation. The presidential office summarized his speech succinctly: “President Lai introduced 17 major strategies to respond to five major national security and united front threats Taiwan now faces: China’s threat to national sovereignty, its threats from infiltration and espionage activities targeting Taiwan’s military, its threats aimed at obscuring the national identity of the people of Taiwan, its threats from united front infiltration into Taiwanese society through cross-strait exchanges, and its threats from
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