Gourmet Produce Specialist
Jack Thomas of the Whole Foods produce department in Dallas, Texas, seconds Ray's comment on pesticides. "You'd have to ingest a lot before it could do you harm," he explains, adding that while it's best to buy organic, even those products could have slight traces of chemicals. In Thomas' department, no veggie washes are used; instead, food that is needed for Whole Foods' pre-made items are prepped and cut in sanitized sinks, while all surfaces and countertops are made germ-free with a diluted mix of water and bleach ‑- the levels of which are monitored using test strips.

However, Whole Foods does sell a lot of consumer vegetable washes, and Thomas suggests using them on more heavily waxed vegetables, like cucumbers. Two of the most popular options are Citrus Magic's Veggie Wash spray and Environne Fruit and Vegetable Wash, which comes in a handy, portable wipe form. The former uses 100 percent natural ingredients, including corn, citrus and coconut, to help remove wax, soil and chemical residue, while the wipes promise to do away with pesticide, fungicide and herbicide residue, plus waxes and oils, with a bio-degradable, non-toxic blend of surfactants. Note that at present, the EPA has not allowed any vegetable wash to claim it can get rid of microorganisms like bacteria or E. coli.

Fruit & Veggie Cleaning Tips
Here are some of the top tips for cleaning veggies, as recommended by the USDA, the EPA and researchers at the University of Maine Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition: