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After washing, I spray a fine mist of distilled white vinegar (which contains acetic acid) on all the fresh fruits and vegetables I eat, that aren't cooked. If they can't be disinfected in this way, I don't eat them. I've given up Romaine lettuce and alfalfa sprouts, for examples.
The vinegar spray is very effective against most pathogens. It also cured my athlete's foot, after a lifetime infestation of it. I sprayed my toes, top and bottom, twice a day for 3 days and I only have to do this once a year, to avoid a recurrence. However, it will not kill eggs from parasites, such as intestinal worms. They have acid-resistant coatings, to be able to survive in a host's stomach.
Heinz sells a stronger, cleaning-strength vinegar, with a 6% solution, compared to the standard 5% solution. The Walmart is the only store where I can find it, in my area. No more expensive and toxic disinfectant sprays at my house.
You can buy acetic acid 99.95% pure online ~$10/quart
Where can I have some oranges tested to be sure that they are not being contaminated from septic leach lines? My Sis n Law brought this up today, don't you just love them.
They sure do taste good
Of course they do! Since septics are NOT supposed to have chemicals and other things dumped down them, and it's a septic under your control, I'd think it would be fine. Technically it's probably cleaner than composted fill or loam you buy from various places, like landfills.
Enjoy.
LOL! Send them to me. (You just discovered a way to keep people from taking your fruit.)
If you pee on your spinach, you might have a problem. Your oranges are safe.
Nah, pee is sterile. The problem is human or animal feces directly contacting food (such as ground-growing veggies, like lettuce, or strawberries). Anything tree-grown and tree-picked will not have bacterial contamination.
Pee is not sterile. It is cleaner (in most cases) than alternative liquids, and the acidity of uric acid can be a mild disinfectant, but it is not sterile. Evidence: urinary tract infections. Evidence: Leave some in a sterile jar for a month and see and smell what happens. The idea of it being sterile was a common misconception, based on it having been used to clean wounds.
In a related note, small amounts of e-coli are more a marker for fecal contamination than a threat to a robust immune system. The real killer and cause for sewage treatment laws was typhoid.
HC, you are wrong. Urine is sterile unless you have an infection. And the idea did not come from wounds. It came from properly collecting specimens. Basic medical fact anyone with training and experience in health care knows.
I agree that typhoid water contamination was a great story in its day, but there are a host of other diseases that come from sewage contamination, including different, pathogenic, strains of E. Coli. W,ith a septic system, the risk is very small, since the only bad stuff that can come out must have gone in from family members or visitors. But yes, E. Coli contamination is a marker. Generally, one looks in the water supply, not the effluent, though.
When you hear on the news about e. coli contaminated lettuce, spinage, celery it's because feces (e coli can be present in a lot of animals and human feces, yeah, yuk) somehow got on the leaves and not washed off, especially foods you don't typically cook or peel. Cooking kills any e. coli bacteria. Since e. Coli bacteria is more likely to be on stuff that is grown on the ground (unlike apples and oranges) it's less likely to be contaminated, but then there are those darn birds that sit in trees and do their business. So always wash all fruits and veggies.
I even wash all melons with a bit of soap and scrub a bit since they sit on the ground. My sister thinks she got sick from eating a melon she didn't wash. When you cut through the outside skin you can drag contaminates onto the inside.
Or, better yet, don't wash anything and strengthen your immune system.
3.2x 10^8 Americans eating 3 meals a day, 365 days a yr = 350 Billion meals a yr and only a few hundred cases of E.coli associated enteritis-- mostly not associated with large scale outbreaks, but rather from isolated cases of contamination in the home.
We're all loaded with our own E.coli which we're already used to, so don't get sick from it. We get sick when we come in contact with a new strain (mild symptoms) or with rare toxigenic or invasive strains. The illness is self limited and is only potentially serious for those with other significant health problems who can't tolerate any extra physical stress.
BTW- why is it that "health laws" force me to install a $20K septic system to deal with MY OWN excrement, but all the cattle, horses, pigs and the myriad wild beasts can dump all over my property with no precautions or treatment required?
HC, you are wrong. Urine is sterile unless you have an infection. And the idea did not come from wounds. It came from properly collecting specimens. Basic medical fact anyone with training and experience in health care knows.
<snipped>
Normally, I like to let disputes pass and just take comfort that I save stated my opinion, but this is something where this common erroneous belief has the potential of harm. We were taught this, I understand, and the reason I cited the two examples was to allow people to reconsider. Having saved urine in bleach bottles for spreading on the perimeter of my garden as pest control, it became obvious to me that there was a type of putrefaction occurring. Empirical evidence. Then I found stuff similar to these cited articles:
In this new world of intentional deception on the internet, it is important to not take statements as automatically true, even if they come from a supposedly reliable source.
FWIW, the use on wounds is historic, prior to the use of microscopes or urine tests.
Chickpea, talk about doublespeak. "In this new world of intentional deception on the internet, it is important to not take statements as automatically true,".
The source of these articles, obviously from a press release, is a group at Loyola pushing this concept. Take a look at the publications in Pubmed, and you'll see it's not settled science at all, even in the authors' words.
Real science, as opposed to popsci or science news, is a bit more cautious and nuanced.
Chickpea, talk about doublespeak. "In this new world of intentional deception on the internet, it is important to not take statements as automatically true,".
The source of these articles, obviously from a press release, is a group at Loyola pushing this concept. Take a look at the publications in Pubmed, and you'll see it's not settled science at all, even in the authors' words.
Real science, as opposed to popsci or science news, is a bit more cautious and nuanced.
This is how "alternate facts" arise.
When my pee starts stinking over time in a BLEACH bottle, I know what I observe. I can't help Pubmed.
Hey guys For the OP...I agree with the poster who said contact the Extension agent.
Sadly there may be more than pee and poop in the septic. If I were you, I'd have the soil tested. There is usually a link provided by your state with a list of soil testing labs. They have instructions, and you can send them soil samples.
You may have to pay more for some kinds of tests. If the soil tests safe, then you may be able to assume the fruit is safe to eat.
You can ask them if they can test the actual plant tissue. You may have to send in the same in a particular way. Best of luck.
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the grass grows greener over the septic tank
