If you think you can just wash hostile bacteria off your food you may not be correct. A new study shows there can be additional problems, as the bacteria can readily be inside the food in any of its tissues and not necessarily killed by washing/sterilization of the exterior of the food. It would be killed by cooking at a high temperature, which would, however, also degrade the nutritional value of the food.

This is the first study that proves that infectious E. Coli or Salmonella that is already in the soil due to water contamination or other types of soil contamination can easily find their way into virtually all tissues in the plant. Furthermore, it can readily persist for 12 days following the plant being harvested.

On the one hand, this means you would like to know where your food was grown and what type of care is being done to ensure soil quality and a lack of water-related contamination. Secondly, it emphasizes the extreme importance of having a healthy digestive tract so that if you do eat something in the “hostile” category, your immune system is capable of defending you.

Getting high quality produce takes some work. Get to know your local farmers by meeting them at the farmer’s markets in your area. Small farmers who grow organically rely on the health of their soil, so that is the preferred type of produce to purchase. There are many large companies getting into the “organic” market who will dump a lot of natural pesticides on produce--farmers who don’t care so much about soil quality. This is much more of an issue when food is coming in from other countries in the offseason.