Can washing lettuce and tomatoes with white vinegar effectively clean and disinfect them?!
Answers: If not, what other cleaning agent (except liquid soap or chlorate bleach - I hate the taste that they give to the lettuce) is effective and healthy (not man-made chemical)?
Yes but I don't understand why you want to 'disinfect' a tomato. Simple washing under running water will remove most traces of dirt, if they are present at all. Most of the bacteria on fruits and veggies are harmless and help serve as immune system targets. Allergies are caused by our obsessions with sterility.
Organic lettuce, however, may be contaminated with E coli if fertilized with animal manure. Vinegar will kill E coli. But if it doesn't look dirty, it should be fine.
I use vinegar on my vegetables, also on my floor with a mop. To the best of my knowledge it disinfects. I also use non-toxic biodegradable cleaning supplies.
I'm a culinary arts student and I've worked a salad station, and we never used that stuff.
We just put the lettuce in a big tub of water and let it float for a few minutes. Its amazing how much dirt comes off when you do that.
Thats generally how restaurants do it, no vinegar or anything. Noone gets sick from it.