Should you buy the PurePod Produce Cleaner? Like you, I also saw an Ad for this fruit and vegetable cleaner, and honestly I was HOOKED.
Last month, I reviewed Puribreeze Produce Cleaner which didn’t live up to the hype. Still, when I saw ads for PurePod, curiosity got the better of me. But like the frugal mom I’m, I went digging on Amazon.com as I couldn’t take the risk of shopping on the official website.
Interestingly, I found the PurePod for a far cheaper price on Amazon ($24). Instead of the $59 on getpurepod.com (which they claim is a 70% discount price).
Table of Contents
About PurePod Produce Cleaner
The PurePod Produce Cleaner is a compact rechargeable produce washing device designed to help remove dirt, debris, pesticides, and residue from fruits, vegetables, seafood, and even meat using OH-ion purification technology.
The idea is simple. Instead of soaking your produce in vinegar or scrubbing endlessly under running water, you place the device into a bowl or sink of water, let it run through its cleaning cycle, and then rinse your produce afterward.
My experience using this fruit and vegetable cleaner
The first thing I cleaned with it was strawberries because if you have kids, you already know strawberries somehow vanish the second they enter the house. I filled a bowl with water, added the strawberries, placed the devie inside, and let it run.
After some minutes, the device started bubbling away, and before long, the water began changing colour. This is the part that looks very impressive in the advertisements.
But when I took the strawberries out and actually looked at them, I honestly could not see any dramatic difference. They looked pretty much like strawberries that had been sitting in water. There was no obvious dirt floating around.
But then I decided to do one more test. This time, I filled the bowl with clean water and turned on the PodBloom without putting any strawberries, tomatoes, or any other produce inside.
And this was where the whole thing fell apart for me.
The device still bubbled. The water still changed colour. It produced a reaction that looked very similar to what I had just seen when the strawberries and tomatoes were inside.
So I had to ask myself a very simple question: If the water can turn brown without any produce in it, then what exactly am I supposed to believe the brown water proves?
Is PurePod better than PuriBreeze?
In my opinion, they’re both the same. They don’t really get rid of the surface dirt or ingrained pesticide.
The cleaning performance felt very similar.
Better Alternatives
Instead of falling for the gimmicks of these devices that don’t actually clean produces as claimed, get this liquid mineral based fruit and veggie cleaner on Amazon for $19.
It’s called ‘Originally Yellow’, a natural non-toxic produce cleaner made in USA. This is what I and my family have been using this past few weeks. It is an extra protection from pesticides & everyone’s grubby fingers touching your future food in the store. It uses minerals to clean your fruit & vegetables.
It does need to sit on/soak your food for about 15 minutes, so I like to just wash everything when I bring it home from the store.
Pros
- Compact and lightweight design
- Easy to use and fits naturally into daily kitchen routines
Cons
- May feel unnecessary for people already satisfied with vinegar or baking soda washes
- No convincing proof that it actually removed dirt from my strawberries
- The water changed colour even when I tested it without any produce.
- It is expensive for what is essentially a small electrolysis gadget.
- Still requires rinsing produce afterward
Does purepod really work?
This is the part most people actually want an honest answer to, because the marketing around produce cleaners can sound a bit over the top.
From my experience using the Purepod Produce Cleaner, I would say it does not really work.
When I ran the same device in a bowl of water without strawberries, tomatoes or any other produce, and still got a similar reaction, I simply could not take that demonstration seriously anymore.
Maybe there are legitimate chemical reactions taking place in the water.
Maybe electrolysis has useful applications.
Is Pure Pod worth it?
For me personally, no. Lots of people who’ve bought this device also agree it is not worth. In fact, on Amazon, it’s flagged as a frequently returned item. Aside from it not really getting rid of dirt there has also been complaints of it breaking down after a couple uses.
My rating: 1.5 out of 5. I would not buy it again, and I do not recommend it.
You might be interested to know that another reviewer who also tested this item had the idea to test the purepod in plain water, with no produce. She reported that the water was brown and showed particles even with no produce in it.
So, you mean the Purepod in water is the one that made the water brown and produced particles? That is what I suspect, too! This is a scam! Money making tactics.
Yes, I’ve seen it as well. And where it was, on Trustpilot, someone else said “it is basically nonsense. Fraudulent health spas have used the same bit of electrolysis in foot baths to tell you that it’s removing the contaminants in your body, but it really is just iron precipitating out of the water.” I pass…
Some thoughts: Step one: the device should run in distilled water with no produce in it. Step 2: a variety of fruits should be “cleaned” with the device in distilled water from the same source as step 1. Then, the water from steps 1 and 2 should be sent to a lab to be tested for chemicals. A third test could be conducted tap water that has cleaned the same kind of produce the conventional way. I don’t know how expensive it would be, but I think that’s the only way you’re going to know how well it really works.
I am thinking the same thing! An actual lab test in pure distilled water would be a good thing. It is always better to have a laboratory test rather than just random people, even if they are dedicated product reviewers! Remember when all the rage was soaking your feet to detox with this little “pod” thing? Yeah, that was all a scam too. Not saying Pure Pod is a scam, but having an actual scientific lab do the testing would make it more believable!
Re: “Not saying Pure Pod is a scam.” Someone already tested it without a produce in the water, and it did the same as shown in their video with produce. No matter how clean your produce, it will still turn the water into brown. Scam in simple term.
Would love to see the results of David’ Bell’s test to see if the PurePod is actually cleaning the fruits & veggies. Nice about adding that you should use distilled water as I am not sure some city water would clean produce but might make it worse if contaminants are in that city water as might be the case in Naomi Snider’s water that turned brown with no produce in it.
I’m curious as to what testing the company did to prove their product was successful and can back what they claim.
Lab testing should have been conducted before releasing to the public.
I agree with using distilled water and never would have tried cleaning produce this way. Great tip. I’m thinking this product is worth a try to clean better than simply using tap water.
I use the $12 spray that cleans it well but I’d like to compare it to pure pod. My produce doesn’t last long after cleaning so this may extend the life of my food too. I will definitely try it. Thanks for the review.
Alarm bells ring every time I see a product like this. I agree that test results are required for a product like this and they should prove truly interesting. My first thought was to buy one and test it empirically with some “around the house” testing tools.
Reverse/Osmosis (R/O) water should be fine.
2 Simple paper filters (coffee filter variety).
Some blueberries (Dirtiest fruit with the most surface area)
Fully charge the unit.
Take the unit and run it using R/O water ONLY. Run the dirty water thru a coffee filter and let dry.
Pre-wash the blueberries in R/O water (to remove most of the junk on them)
Clean the unit in R/O water. Run the unit in R/O water, with rinsed fruit this time. Pour the dirty water into the second coffee filter.
Compare results in the 2 filters. They NEED to be different. If they are the same the test FAILED.
While there should be more junk in the dry filter from the second batch and most ANYTHING will add to the dirty load after the fruit was washed it is important to determine how much of the residue on the second filter is real removal of grime and not just the effect of the OH Ion generator.
If all else fails, send the R/O water for analysis.
I may get one from Amazon because of their good return policy.
I’m not saying I have bought/tested this cleaning method, on the contrary, I wanted to buy it and see if it was real. When I go to pay for it, It seems like it is processing but then sends a message saying I am blacklisted. No explanation. I use my card daily and have never ever had a problem. I checked to see if I may have been hacked, but nothing (thank goodness) bc I have good protection. So my thought is that this is a scam and I have had to call them out for a different product so they don’t want to deal with being sued. So…just a thought. I don’t use Amazon and always go directly to company sites to purchase.
Seems like humans survived a plethora of generations without this.
I personally wonder about plastic micro particles and don’t add plastics to my food prep regimen.
There was a time radioactive materials were considered miracle diet additions too…
Just sayin’
I’d like to share what another reviewer on another site said: It is basically nonsense. Fraudulent health spas have used the same bit of electrolysis in foot baths to tell you that it’s removing the contaminants in your body, but it really is just iron precipitating out of the water.
Moreover, due to being shipped from China, etc., the return fees are more than the cost of the unit. The customer service is non-existent.
Waste of money.
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