*7.2.1.1 Tap water*

For centuries, tap water has been used to decontaminate vegetables. A survey in Lomé on the use of disinfectants in households revealed that 8% of consumers cleaned vegetables with water [123]. Coulibaly-Kalpy et al. [68] in Côte d'Ivoire showed that washing tomatoes and endives with tap water for 10 min reduced the rate of faecal coliforms, *Enterococci* and *Pseudomonas* by more than 70%. However, Subramanya et al. [124] showed a small reduction (one log CFU/ml) of the bacterial load on the coriander leaves washed with tap water. Traoré et al. [125] also have showed that tap water was not effective in reducing faecal coliforms on lettuce (1.3, 1.6 and 1.9 log CFU/100 g at 5, 10 and 15 minutes, respectively). In addition, Bhilwadikar et al. [122] signalise that tap water was not very effective

(11.1% to 23.7%) in reducing the residue of dimethoate, pirimiphosmethyl and malathion in potatoes. Amoah [126] demonstrated that water is not very effective for removing helminth eggs.
