for the record this has happened to people as well as severe illness from eating un washed vegetables… Perhaps the artist just hasnt been paying enough attention to the liability warning on washing stuff particularly romaine lettuce has been recalled numerous times over the years as infections have lead to death, illness and why these warnings exist.
There’s been listeria outbreaks on waffles the past two years.
Food warnings Just in the past few months:
January 15, 2026
[Outbreak of Salmonella infections linked to various brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products]
December 24, 2025
[Outbreak of E. coli infections linked to Pillsbury brand Pizza Pops]
November 5, 2025
[Outbreak of Salmonella infections linked to dog food and treats]
These are packed products. So I wouldn’t trust an exposed, unwashed grown product. Common sense.
Listeria can’t survive cooking so just fully cook any food you get that’s RTE (Ready To Eat). Examples of high risk food included frozen pizza and corn dogs since there’s both meat and bread coming together, each having its own food bourne illness risks. So yeah, fully cook your food.
The good news however is that the FDA takes Listeria very seriously and will stop production at a plant until a battery of thousands of swabs all come back negative. Plants don’t want to be shut down by the FDA so they do their own swabbing very frequently and often have private contractors who also swab very frequently so that they can identify contaminations before they get to the FDA
More good news is Listeria really struggles to compete with other food bourne illnesses, so in a facility that’s really poorly cleaned and maintained, it’ll most likely be a far less deadly pathogen because they beat out Listeria in the competition for resources to grow and spread
Small amounts of dirt are going to harbor bacteria, and a soak and rinse (and a light scrub, if it’s produce that can be scrubbed) will actually make a notable difference to the pathogen count. It’s not magic, but it’s good practice.
The thing to always consider is the probability of the risk.
You’re technically not supposed to reheat rice because the toxins produced by bacteria that feed on rice aren’t destroyed by the temperatures you achieve though reheating.
But the risk is really quite low, to the extent that someone could reheat rice frequently throughout their life and never get sick.
This is true for a lot of food safety issues. Or really safety issues in general. For an individual the risk is pretty low, but for a place like a restaurant it’s much higher due to volume.
I also have doubts that simply rinsing produce with water is a truly effective method of removing bacteria. If you think about it, would you consider only rinsing off your hands with water after taking a shit be sufficient?
In all of the restaurants I’ve worked in we had to use a specific washing solution for cleaning produce.
for the record this has happened to people as well as severe illness from eating un washed vegetables… Perhaps the artist just hasnt been paying enough attention to the liability warning on washing stuff particularly romaine lettuce has been recalled numerous times over the years as infections have lead to death, illness and why these warnings exist.
There’s been listeria outbreaks on waffles the past two years.
Food warnings Just in the past few months:
January 15, 2026
[Outbreak of Salmonella infections linked to various brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products] December 24, 2025
[Outbreak of E. coli infections linked to Pillsbury brand Pizza Pops] November 5, 2025
[Outbreak of Salmonella infections linked to dog food and treats]
These are packed products. So I wouldn’t trust an exposed, unwashed grown product. Common sense.
NO ONE TOLD ME I HAD TO WASH WAFFLES
Listeria can’t survive cooking so just fully cook any food you get that’s RTE (Ready To Eat). Examples of high risk food included frozen pizza and corn dogs since there’s both meat and bread coming together, each having its own food bourne illness risks. So yeah, fully cook your food.
The good news however is that the FDA takes Listeria very seriously and will stop production at a plant until a battery of thousands of swabs all come back negative. Plants don’t want to be shut down by the FDA so they do their own swabbing very frequently and often have private contractors who also swab very frequently so that they can identify contaminations before they get to the FDA
More good news is Listeria really struggles to compete with other food bourne illnesses, so in a facility that’s really poorly cleaned and maintained, it’ll most likely be a far less deadly pathogen because they beat out Listeria in the competition for resources to grow and spread
…so far.
But doctor, I got listeria from ice cream.
How am I supposed to cook that?!
Fried ice cream
Yeah I’m sure the 5 second rinse that everyone does really kills that bacteria. Individually soaping each leaf, massaging the crevasses 🤣
The rinse is for getting rid of rocks and dirt. The rest is theater.
Small amounts of dirt are going to harbor bacteria, and a soak and rinse (and a light scrub, if it’s produce that can be scrubbed) will actually make a notable difference to the pathogen count. It’s not magic, but it’s good practice.
I get it, and I wash my shit if only because of literal shit. But odds are if there is an outbreak, you’re getting sick. This is nitpicky as fuck.
Wow speaking of nitpicky there is no middle ground with you.
Ah sorry, reread the username. Call you anal. Got it. Fits.
Clever, huh 🤣
All of this is ignoring the fact that plants can absorb the harmful bacteria so washing, even with specific produce washing solution, isn’t foolproof.
Of course, that vector is definitely more uncommon than shit particles on the food.
The rinse also gets rid of any bugs that might have hitched a ride. There’s some nasty parasites you can completely avoid just by rinsing your produce
I know, everyone is getting sick all the time, from the occasional unwashed fruit.
How is dirt or bugs gonna make me sick if I already eat dirt and bugs for fun? 🤷♂️
The thing to always consider is the probability of the risk.
You’re technically not supposed to reheat rice because the toxins produced by bacteria that feed on rice aren’t destroyed by the temperatures you achieve though reheating.
But the risk is really quite low, to the extent that someone could reheat rice frequently throughout their life and never get sick.
This is true for a lot of food safety issues. Or really safety issues in general. For an individual the risk is pretty low, but for a place like a restaurant it’s much higher due to volume.
I also have doubts that simply rinsing produce with water is a truly effective method of removing bacteria. If you think about it, would you consider only rinsing off your hands with water after taking a shit be sufficient?
In all of the restaurants I’ve worked in we had to use a specific washing solution for cleaning produce.