Video: New wash could make fresh produce safer

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The CDC says food borne illnesses send 300,000 Americans to the hospital every year. More than 5,000 die.

Now, University of Georgia researchers may have found a way to make fresh produce safer -- a wash that kills dangerous salmonella and E.coli in about a minute.

"It's a combination of an organic acid and a detergent that when together is highly bactericidal," said Michael Doyle, food microbiologist for the University of Georgia. "It kills very large numbers of harmful bacteria."

The chemicals are inexpensive and already FDA-approved for other uses. You can't taste or smell them, but researchers say together, they kill thousands more food pathogens than chlorine bleach.

"If it turns out to be as good as we think it is, it will be very exciting," Doyle said. "I think it will be a major contribution to reducing food-borne pathogen contamination in foods."

Until then, food scientists say it's up to you. Wash your hands before you handle produce. Then, after you've peeled it or removed outer leaves, wash your hands again with soap. Then, rinse one more time. They're simple steps that could make your next meal safer.

The chemicals used in this new wash are non-toxic and do not pose the same environmental threats as chlorine.

The product could be on the market in the next one to two years.

This wash could be used in the home for washing vegetables or in the field during harvest.