When Tiktok transforms the dishwasher into a giant sink
In recent months, a series of viral videos on Tiktok, gathered under the hashtags #dishwasher or #dishwasherhack, shows Internet users placing carrots, tomatoes, sweet potatoes or even dragon fruit in their dishwasher to clean them in a single cycle. Popularized in June by the video of a young girl filming her mother delighted to “wash” all her races, the practice consists in launching a cold cycle, with white vinegar instead of detergent, to avoid dishwashing liquid.
If the trick may seem practical, it quickly worries food security professionals. Videos combining millions of views, scientists and experts had to recall the risks of such a method.
“”This practice contaminates your products more“”
Matthew Taylor, of the National Science Foundation, is categorical: “Dishwasher products should not be rinsed. In reality, this practice contaminates your products more than “it cleans them“. The device does not eliminate the residues, but can on the contrary add traces of surfactants or particles from previous meals. As it sums up:”Last week’s dinner songs will swirl with your fruits and vegetables“.
Kimberly Baker, an expert in food security at the University of Clemson, also warns against the stagnation of water at the bottom of the machine, conducive to the development of bacteria, especially in a warm environment. For her, “Pathogens like humidity, heat and food. The dishwasher offers all this for fruits and vegetables, which is therefore a risk“.
How to properly clean your fruits and vegetables
To avoid contamination, the recommended method remains simple: pass the fruits and vegetables under running water for several seconds in the sink, in order to eliminate the microbes and traces linked to manipulations as much as possible. Non -organic products can also be peeled to remove the skin and the fine layer potentially contaminated by pesticides.