SPONSORED CONTENT -- (StatePoint) The USDA’s Dietary Guidelines recommend adults eat anywhere from five to 13 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. While meeting or exceeding your recommended daily dose is an essential component of a healthy lifestyle, it’s just as important to ensure that you’re consuming produce safely. This fresh produce season, keep in mind that rinsing with water doesn’t completely eliminate pesticides, or the wax that’s sprayed on produce to help extend its shelf life.

Whether you’re making a salad, sauté, skewers or soup, the best way to ensure you’re maximizing the health benefits of these good-for-you food choices is to consider incorporating a fruit and vegetable wash into your kitchen routine. Just be sure that when choosing a wash you look out for the Safer Choice label from the EPA, which indicates the product is both effective and uses only ingredients that are safer for families. One such choice is ARM & HAMMER Fruit & Vegetable Wash, which combines baking soda with other pure and simple ingredients such as lemon, purified water and salt. This formula is scientifically proven to safely eliminate up to 90 percent of pesticide residue of the commonly used pesticide, thiabendazole, when used as directed, as well as clean four times better than water alone.

To safely eliminate pesticides, wax and soil from your fruits and vegetables, follow these three steps:

1. Spray: Spray produce with Arm & Hammer Fruit & Vegetable Wash.

2. Gently rub: Gently rub produce to remove soil and wax.

3. Rinse: Rinse under water to wash away pesticides, wax and soil.

To learn more and for additional tips, visit armandhammercleans.com.

When it comes to your family’s healthy lifestyle, choosing nutritious fruits and vegetables is just part of the equation. With this small tweak to your food prep routine, you can ensure those supermarket selections are wholesome and safe by the time they reach your plate.