Prevention had a great article about how healthy your kitchen is, and it covers everything from pets, plastic containers, sponges, the fridge, food storage and more, click here for the article.
Recently I saw a news story about washing fruits and vegetables. Specifically it was about a listeria outbreak caused by cantaloupes (listeria was present on the skin of the cantaloupes) and a number of people got sick and some died. What most of us forget to do is wash the outside of cantaloupes, melons, pineapples, mangoes, lemons, limes, oranges, and anything we cut through or peel and eat raw. Otherwise anything on the skin will get injected into the fruit or vegetable, and you’re eating it raw, so there’s no heat from cooking to kill any microbes. Whether you grow it yourself or you purchase the fruit or vegetable at the store, it’s still important to wash the outside of it, hopefully before you put it on the counter or in the refrigerator.