Carla, thanks for the comment!

No the thought does not bother me much but then when I see a mouse sinking its teeth into my produce, I definitely feel concerned!

I'm quite torn by the sight really. On the one hand I feel tremendous pride in harvesting fruits of my own yard, where I have been growing my vegetables off composted soil and all that. But on the other hand, seeing a squirrel and/or mouse bite it is a bit beyond my comfort zone.

I wash it off, cut off the bitten end, and eat it. Heck, if I didn't, I'd never get any avocados.

The only animals I know to have communicable diseases are bats with rabies (if you are bitten) and ground squirrels with plague (if you get bitten by their fleas). I guess there are a few birds out there with West Nile but it's hard to catch without the help of a mosquito.

A doctor friend once told me that pregnant women should avoid tree squirrels, since they have a pathogen in their fur that can cause gestation problems. I suppose if I was pregnant I might think twice about anything a squirrel had taken liberties with.

Renee

I would wash everything at outside faucet and then again once inside...you never know where something has been.
You can rinse in water and hydrogen peroxide...not sure of the ratio.
I am believer that nothing is truly organic unless grown in a sealed greenhouse. To many things floating around in the air.
I've got raccoons that visit and from the storm drains/rivers/washes to look for snails in the muck and travel thru the city that way. I've had to make a cage for my peppers so nothing gets to them but bugs.
No telling what lives up on the wild brush slope I have other than the known coyotes, bunnies, squirrels, roadrunner, bobcat, quail.

Iwould not eat something obviously bitten -ordinarily.

One time when I was on a walk my blood sugar got so low I felt like I was going to pass out (I'm a diabetic) and I had no emergency sweets in my pocket so I looked around for a fruit tree. I spotted an apricot tree hanging over a fence but I could not reach it. Desperate I snatched up an apricot off the ground that a bird had been to before me and ate it!

It was actually yummy too!

I do all the time, has not killed me yet. I wash everything before eating. Just ate a lucious ripe fig with a small bird-peck in it. Sweet as honey!

Starving people cannot afford to be so picky. There would not be any human beings on the face of this earth if our predecessors were as picky as all that.

Eat the darn food and don't waste it, that is the crime--waste.

Plus, some of the tastiest foods are just plain rotten (thinking stinky cheeses, for example.)

Why not eat it? How many fly parts and mouse droppings does the FDA allow per pound of chocolate?

I eat veggies right out of the garden sometimes. A ripe cherry tomato, a sprig of mint, a peach. I grew up eating fruit and biting carefully in case there were worms inside (eat around it!).

I grow organic so I'm not worried about pesticides/herbicides. I do wash my veggies more often than not before using them, but I'm not uptight about it.

When I was a kid I don't remember washing my hands very often at all and I was a healthy child. We got our eggs from our chickens, put them in the container and then cracked them. No washing involved.

I'm not worried about critters touching food. I would be more afraid of standing water because animal urine has some pretty bad diseases (leptospirosis) that can really hurt you.

I've read that the sidewalk in NYC is actually cleaner than most kitchen floors.

My standard? Brush it off and eat it and live your life.

If I see bite marks on a fruit I leave it and pick only those that are free of marks. I have fig, pomegranate, plum, apricot and lemon trees. I grow tomatoes near the house and so far have had perfect fruit. My artichokes are first soaked in salt water or vinegar diluted with water to remove any insects that get between the leaves. The same goes for my Swiss chard. I eat my blackberries off the vine and so far have had no ill effects! Wish me continued luck!

I have learned to leave the partially eaten fruit on the tree if possible. Birds will return to the pecked fruit in preference to pecking another unblemished fruit, allowing more unpecked fruit for the gardener. Al

I personally would not eat anything that are partially eaten by any animal. The recently salmonella outbreak from eggs was transmitted by rat/mouse.

Everything I have read says the salmonella "could have" been caused by rodents, not "was", along with a lot of other potential sources. Where did you read it was definitively traced to rodents?

And as I said above, I have never encountered anyone who has "issues" with animals and bugs touching their food, who is also a vegan. Why is it OK to eat an animal itself, but not OK to eat food with a bite by an animal? And if you feel that way, how do you keep from eating food that was bitten in the field when you eat processed food, not to mention all the bugs in it? It just seems like you are looking for things to be upset about dwelling on these things.

Of course, we all have our own "issues" about various things which seem perfectly reasonable to us and not to others, it's just part of life. Vive la difference!

Carla in Sac

Have you ever put something in your mouth after being in a public place (without washing your hands) like the mall for example?? Compared to all the other germs we encounter in our lives, a few germs on a tomato is nothing!

Ick. I never touch the handrails, especially where shoppers or patients congregate.

I don't think it's easy to get salmonella or e-coli from a rat unless you eat the poop. Chickens had rodent droppings in their food, supposedly. Poop is often bad for you. Don't eat poop. That's where I stand on the issue.

Carla, people who eat animals mostly eat them cooked, (although there are numerous exceptions, like sushi). I think that's why they are not afraid of germs in their McNuggets. The "ick" factor is an entirely different matter. I don't know why people don't go off all "ick" at McNuggets, while they freak out at a small earwig in their eggplant.

Renee

you are so right renee, no more poo snacks in my house!
min

I knew you'd come around, min.
Renee

The likelihood of my eating critter nibbled fruit is inversely proportional to the amount of un-nibbled fruit available. If there is one ripe peach with some bird pecks in it I will cut out the pecked bit and eat the peach. However, if there is an unblemished peach next to it I will eat that one instead.

I usually snack while I am tending my veggie garden and home orchard, and I don't run back to the house to wash stuff off before I eat it. I also eat wild berries and fruits whenever I'm hiking and I see them, I've done so my entire life and I've never contracted the dread bizzore.

The one deal breaker is bird poop of course, anything that has been pooped on needs to be thoroughly washed before I will eat it.

This turned out an interesting conversation! Thanks for pitching in everyone! I got some really encouraging advice (I was hoping to hear "don't worry, it's not a big deal" which I did). Now, it seems like my post created some misconceptions about me therefore I must clarify a few things:

1. I should have clarified better, but my post was not a result of "ick feeling" crawling over me. I was really concerned about diseases from eating produce bitten by a mouse and perhaps squirrels.

2. Also, I have a healthy immune system. I've grown up eating all kinds of foods, fruits fallen on the ground without washing etc. (Back then the soil was organic so there was no risk to chemical contamination, but I got my fill of bacteria). However, I get worried about my 4-yr old. Although she is adventurous by Average Bay Area standard (someone who eats mint, basil, blueberries directly from the plant without washing etc), I do not have the stomach to let her eat a tomato where I can see clear bite marks. (I've seen a mouse taking away ripe tomato from the very same bush). Yet, barring animal contact, this is the best quality she can consume because it comes with absolutely no chemicals, and the soil has not had a chemical into it for years, therefore the decision of keeping this food away from her is not easy for me, because I grow the veggie garden largely for her sake and she enjoys the flavor of home-grown produce. That is what generated the question.

After this, I began washing my veggie produce *very* carefully (just plain water), but it still makes me feel guilty while offering it to my 4-yr old. After all, her immune system is no match to her kin growing on a farm or in a developing country.

Net net, I am relieved that it's nothing to be worried about for me, but still not sure if it might pose a risk to a child.

Thanks in advance, would love to hear more on this topic!

homey-bird, I think the question to ask would be how your child can develop a healthy, strong immune system if she's never exposed to anything. When she goes to kindergarten or school she'll be inundated with germs and pathogens of every kind and she'll be very susceptible if she has a wimpy immune system. This craze we have now for sanitizing everything is extremely counterproductive and probably bad for the environment as well with all the chemicals we're spreading around. As long as you wash what you or your daughter eats I don't see the slightest problem.

Just cruising around and saw this post. Some of it made me chuckle, some made me roll my eyes, but whatever your conscience is clear on eating that's what you should do. I'll take the animal bitten fruit over the store-bought items I see blemished from someone's fingernails or who-knows-what on it's way from farm to market - not to mention the stuff that's so obviously old it shouldn't be sold at all. If it really "icks" you out to think an animal might have left something unhealthy where it bit, go to the store & get the fingernail-nicked fruit. Yum.

The quote: "(Back then the soil was organic so there was no risk to chemical contamination, but I got my fill of bacteria)." Ummm, if you're young enough to have a 4-yr old, I wouldn't count on that statement to be true unless you lived on property owned since it was settled and knew what every previous ancestor sprayed, poured, dumped, pooped on it or whatever. In the late '60s I followed, on foot, behind dad-driven tractor spraying tansey with some form of herbicide in a field which no doubt today, someone might say was an "organic" field. I wore no protection from the spray either so I'm probably more likely to have a problem from that than an animal bitten fruit.

There are a lot of answers floating around out there- mostly based on personal experiences, hunches and rationale guided by personal preferences, prejudices, and tendency to favor nature over Monsanto-like techniques. I tried to find something more scholarly and found this informative Univ. of Fla. article. It discusses numerous zoonotic diseases- (they are contagious diseases spread between animals and humans.) Though the thrust deals with bird-keeping it's quite illuminating. Better safe than sorry...
Link below is to the entire article

Here is a link that might be useful: PS23 Avian Diseases Transmissible to Humans

I know this is an old post, but heck, I'll throw in my 2 cents. I have been around large agricultural operations my entire life. I've seen the harvest of tomatoes in Central California and followed the process they go through from the field to the shelf. Large scale operations have no time to thoroughly clean the produce. Sometimes, large bull frogs, snails, slugs, rattle snakes and even mice that were injured by the harvesting machines go past the inspectors and into the massive tanks where the tomatoes are boiled and processed into tomato paste. All that paste is then made into the ketchup we all eat, and into the sauces in our pizzas. It makes no difference whether you're at a high end restaurant or a cheap chain pizza place, the process is one and the same.

In the same way, wine grapes go into the processing plants with dead and injured mice, bird nests, small snakes, spiders and other critters. Once inside, the grapes are pressed (along with everything else they come with) and the grape juice is then filtered before being set aside to age. Again, this is my experience with large scale agricultural operations. I would imagine that small scale operations are able to have a tighter control over what goes into their products.

This was all to say that things that you buy at the store aren't a pure or clean as you would expect.

Sure would eat it, you grew 'em and critters have been touching things for eons. You can can make your own fruit wash which I use to get wax off apples. Three parts peroxide, one part dish soap, diluted in water. Spray it on, shake gently for suds and rinse under a good stream of water until the suds are gone. You can buy fruit wash pre-made too.

No telling what kind of critters get to foods that are on their way to stores and sitting in stores. I wash everything I buy and grow.

"this is the best quality she can consume because it comes with absolutely no chemicals, and the soil has not had a chemical into it for years, "

Your tomato and soil are nothing but chemicals.

The wine comment reminds me of the stories of people squishing grapes with their bare feet, but the wine still tastes good, right?

One time my friends and I were at a restaurant and we saw a dead roach cooked among the saucy stir-fry that we were eating. They were grossed out but I told them, it's better to see this and avoid eating it than to assume everything else is clean, and still eating it. This includes something I saw at the very same restaurant -- an employee picked up some food pieces that had fallen off a plate and put it back on the plate for the next unsuspecting customer.

I volunteer with a wildlife rescue group and have taken some classes in Zoonotic Diseases(animal to human). If a raccoon has nibbled on the produce I would discard it. Rabies is not really the issue - rabies cannot survive long outside of a live body and for the record, ALL mammals carry rabies except rabbit families(lagomorphs) for some reason. The problem is raccoon roundworm (Baylisascaris procyonis). This is very tenacious. It cannot be cleaned off with soap and water or chemical cleaners. In the one class, they showed us the eggs that were in formaldehyde for 6 months and you could still see the larvae moving inside the egg sack. We were told that the only way to rid the eggs or worms was fire. This form of roundworm is deadly in other mammals. It can blind humans when it burrows out your eyes or kill you when it tunnels around your brain...not something to be careless with for the sake of saving a squash. Sheri

NINI

Central_cali369's comment made me either never want to eat ketcup again or make my own with my own home grown tomatoes! LOL

Yes. I cannot bet my life no "critter" has touched outdoor-grown produce, whether at farms or home gardens.

Acceptable to wash everything, cut and discard visibly damaged parts, possibly cook to kill germs. But don't starve yourself over it.

i was cutting the bites off and eating mine til the roundworm from raccoons comment. eek

We feed all the bitten ones to the worms in our little worm farm. They are not picky at all and they make good droppings for the soil. Me, I am not even thrilled to pick up the bitten veggies or fruit. Around here it's rats, voles, coons, possums or birds.

Insects are always taking bites out of veggies, like lettuce greens, but I just cut around the bites and we eat what's left.

Who knew Raccoon poop could be used as bioterrorism, its that bad? Says Wiki.

It was great reading everyone's comments from years ago. The problem is not new and I got a fresh perspective but still I have my own questions. I have a big apricot tree in my backyard which produced fruit after 8 years. We had atleast 400 green unripe ones at the begining of June. Everyday I have an army of squirrels working from dawn to dusk and have gone up and down that tree so many times. They examine each fruit before they chose one, discard the outside and work their way to the pit. They have left me 50 apricots. Now can i still eat the fruit after being touched so many times by these squirrels. A lot of the apricots have bruises because they run over them. I do have good ones too. There no half bitten ones because the squirrels shred them to pieces. Any advice?

Make a 10% bleach dip in a big bowl, let apricots soak for a minute, take them out and rinse well and dry. They should be fine.

I can't handle bleach. Any alternatives?

You could try Vinegar. Google it. That might work too. Good luck. Our apricot tree got sacrificed to gophers as did many others. We plant all new things in gopher cages, but sometimes they even crawl inside the cage!

I get spooked about hantaviruses, which are carried by rodents. I am not sure what is eating my cantaloupes but a rodent is a good guess. Here is a list. I wish wed hadf a doctor or research scientist here https://www.cdc.gov/rodents/diseases/direct.html

Squirrels discovered my peach tree this year! Found 45 half eaten peaches on the round in 2 days!

Sprayed an organic stuff to get rid of the squirrels...sort of worked.

I'm not eating the 1/2 eaten peaches! Yuk! Don't know where those squirrels have been!

Fruit flies abound!

What if a skunk stayed on or around your vegetables? Can you eat them after washing?

If the skunk was just around, I would. But if it sprayed, I think the oils might make the food inedible. That is an experience I've never had to cope with and don't ever want.

No way could you eat a vegetable sprayed. It would never be good to eat. Now,if a skunk sprayed in the yard a marking..has no effect on the plants. Same for cats who can do skunk level stink. Don't even bother trying to wash of a fruit or vegetable hit by their spray. I never had that happen to my fruits and such..but skunk or cat stink happens around here. Near a greenbelt.

I agree.
Skunks actually spray an oil, I don't know how you could get it off food.
Carla in Sac

Thank you. This skunk sprayed my dog and they were around tomatoes!! What a nightmare! I searched for answers everywhere and there's no information about it. The tomatoes don't smell like skunk but I'm still leery on whether they're edible. I went and got another plant. Lol, others are gone. It's just a shame because it's my first time growing anything and I was proud of them. Crazy skunk snuck right between my fence and the house to get in.

I mean in theory Kelly you could have tried eating one after washing it off with some liquid soap. If it didn't smell bad the next test would be taste.

It might be one of those things that are really are fine to eat..just never tell anybody!..especially family!

Lol. I may. I mean I have read that people eat the actual skunk. Yuck!

You could try washing then peeling the tomatoes and see how the inside tastes.
I don't think it would hurt you I think it would just be nasty.
Carla in Sac

wash and enjoy it. You could always leave in sunlight for 30 minutes to kill any thing that still there. I talked to a grower at the farmers market who said food from outside the USA has human fertilizer, its just the way it is. I wash everything

Oh,you still hug the 3 year old cutey pie grandaughter even if she has a booger on her finger. 😍