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Safer Fruit & Veggies

Keep your fresh produce safe with simple tips: avoid damaged items, store pre-cut fruit in the fridge, rinse before eating, and freeze extras to reduce waste. Protect your household, especially vulnerable members, from foodborne illnesses.

How to buy and handle your fresh fruit and veg to keep it safe

In Western Australia, we have access to a wide variety of fresh fruit and veg. As a lot of this produce can be eaten raw, there are some important food safety tips you should follow to ensure it stays safe.

This is particularly important if you have vulnerable people (such as those who are very young, very old, pregnant or immunocompromised) in your household, as significant outbreaks of food poisoning have been linked with some fruits and vegetables, such as Listeria and rockmelon.

At the shops 
  • Avoid buying fruit and veg that has broken skin or is mouldy.
  • Weirdly shaped produce is perfectly fine and often cheaper to buy
Bringing it home
  • Keep loose, ready-to-eat fruit and veg away from high-risk foods such as fresh meat, poultry or seafood.
  • Refrigerated pre-cut fruit and salads should be transported in a cooler bag, and away from high-risk foods.
Storing your fruit and veg at home
  • Check any packaging for storage instructions, e.g. berries and cut pieces of fruit or salads will need to be covered, stored in the fridge and consumed by their use by date.
  • Whole pieces of fruit, including tomatoes, should be stored outside the fridge or they may lose quality, such as their appearance, texture and flavour.
  • Storing fruit in bowls can look attractive but may result in softer fruits getting bruised from the weight of other fruit on top, which may lead to mould growth, so you may prefer to store on a flat plate.
  • Keep potatoes in a cool dark place to reduce sprouting and the formation of toxic alkaloid substances.
Washing
  • Don’t wash your fresh fruit and veg until just before you want to eat them as excess moisture may promote microbial growth.
  • Brush off any visible dirt and then wash under running drinking water. You can also peel them.
  • Check the packaging as some salad greens may have been pre-washed and will not need to be washed again.
Reducing waste
  • Plan how much produce you need to buy. If you do end up with excess fruits and vegetables you can freeze many of them by cutting them up and then blanching them i.e. dipping into boiling water for a minute or two – not only does this help maintain the colour, flavour and texture, but it can also kill most food poisoning bacteria.
  • It is best to freeze products by packing them in smaller portions, label and date.  
  • You can also cook excess fruit or veg and then freeze in shallow containers once they have stopped steaming.

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City of Kwinana kaditj kalyakoorl moondang-ak kaaradj midi boodjar-ak nyininy, yakka wer waabiny, Noongar moort. Ngala kaditj baalap kalyakoorl nidja boodjar wer kep kaaradjiny, baalap moorditj nidja yaakiny-ak wer moorditj moort wer kaditj Birdiya wer yeyi.

The City of Kwinana acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we live, work and play, the Nyoongar people. We recognise their connection to the land and local waterways, their resilience and commitment to community and pay our respect to Elders past and present.

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