While we may all love to watch the pouring rain during monsoons, this season is also the time when water borne diseases are at its prime, causing stomach infections, food poisoning and diarrhoea. There are a number of foods you can blame for this as well as your carelessness while eating street foods and chaats, juices and shakes. Various studies reveal that street foods are most susceptible to water-borne infections. But it doesn't stop there. There are many vegetables too that are equally, if not more, as harmful with huge amounts of pathogens flourishing in them. In fact, studies claim that salads or fruit bowls are more dangerous than meat burgers.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, roughly 1 in 6 Americans - or 48 million people - come down with foodborne illness in any given year. Of those cases, at least 9.4 million can be directly traced to one or more of the 31 known foodborne pathogens, the vast majority of which are bacterial agents.
So how do you keep a check? We list out top most infectious vegetables -
1. Green Leafy Vegetables: Research studies have found that green leafy vegetables are most susceptible to bacterial infections. It's not without reason that elders advice to skip eating saag during monsoons. Spinach, colocasia leaves, lettuce, arugula, etc should be avoided.
2. Cabbage: Due to its complex layers, the fold of the leaves are the perfect spots for bacterial infection as well as worms. If you bring cabbage home, make sure you thoroughly wash each and every leaf and even boil them for 2-3 minutes before using it for cooking.
3. Sprouts: Raw sprouts are a great source of protein, but during monsoon, it is best to give them a miss. They are loaded with harmful pathogens that can cause serious health problems for you.
4. Cucumber: Having you been cleaning your cucumber properly before using it in your salad? The fact that we eat this vegetable raw requires extra attention. It is susceptible to infection, particularly on its skin. Hence use a brush to scrub the surface while cleaning, or better still, peel and discard the skin, wash well, and then consume.
5. Arbi: These root vegetables contain large amounts of pathogens. They must be cleaned and scrubbed thoroughly before consumption.