I’m with Hunt on this one. Sometimes I wash fruit. Often I don’t. I haven’t had food poisoning since 1983 (from a nice steak restaurant). I sometimes drink unfiltered water up in the mountains. As often as I have my fingers in my mouth over the course of a day, I figure the food supply is about the least of my worries.
For the dog, nothing gets washed. He eats chicken poop in the back yard.
I feel a bit like George Costanza eating that chocolate eclair admitting this.
I wash some things well: melons, grapes, cherry tomatoes. I rinse some things: apples, cherries, strawberries, some lettuce. Some things I just eat: most berries, broccoli, baby carrots. I’m not sure there is much of a pattern to what I do (aside from the obvious–wash off real dirt and try to avoid having the berries rot or fall apart.) I’ve seen lists of which produce tends to have more pesticide residue on it and that might have influenced my choices? We do grow as many of our blueberries and raspberries as we can. I don’t wash or rinse them at all. I’m kind of a fan of the idea that “you gotta eat a peck of dirt before you die,” it’s the pesticides I am more concerned about. H scrubs everything to death–his mom was the type to throw away a pacifier if it hit the floor. He has allergies, the kids and I do not. 
But you can avoid 99% of it, I believe.
@Magnetron I think you may want to think about washing that chicken poop…unless the chicken washed its food before it ate it maybe.
Not only do I basically just wave my fruit under a closed tap…but I certainly don’t wash the inside leaves of romaine or iceburg lettuce. I MAY throw out the outer leaves instead of wash them, depending on who’s eating.
@Nrdsb4 You start doing those not huge chores, and they turn into some serious time commitments. I’m lightly putting my foot down on berry-washing I think!
Melons can actually have salmonella inside them - bacteria travels through the skin. Washing in this case, would not help!
I’m with some of you. If it’s for someone else I wash it but for me, eh, token moves and a wave under the tap does it. Certainly no dish detergent!
We (family) also drink from one another’s glasses / cups.
My son actually did a science experiment in fifth grade comparing rinsing hands, washing hands with soap and not washing at all. He grew bacteria from his hands on a petrie dish. It turned out that just a rinse got rid of at least 90% of the bacteria, though if you wanted to get rid of it all a detergent worked best.
When in doubt, Pubmed is your best friend. 
A cursory check of the database reveals many papers on the subject of effectiveness of produce washing in reduction of surface bacterial contamination. Like this one, for example.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/16496573/
And if you think a bug or a snail or two is only going to provide some extra protein, here is an example of one you would want to avoid:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3689494/pdf/hjmph7206_S2_0083.pdf
^^When I wash my produce, I visually inspect it for traces of bugs, contaminants, bruising, mildew, and other things I can miss otherwise. While risk of getting ill from unwashed produce is small, I eat multiple servings of fruit and veggies every day… so any reduction in risk is good.
I am not a germaphobe. I do not rinse raspberries because they are grown off the ground and are so hairy no amount of washing would be effective, but I do rinse or wash everything else.
I think we all did lots of things in our youth that we wouldn’t do now. I never intentionally ate dirt though! But I was more of an indoor girl, if I’m honest.
No one has to wash their fruit. But the OP asked a question, and my individual answer is that I consider eating dirty fruit to be just gross, separate and apart from potential for illness. My opinion doesn’t have to impact anyone else, and vice versa.
Yeah, but I bet you wouldn’t drink after the sweaty guy stocking fruit, would you? (I know, you said family) 
D2 ended up in the hospital two weeks ago with a horrific stomach virus. DH got it from her, but I didn’t. I was IMMACULATE with my hand washing. I washed my hands if I even looked at her.
“Who didn’t eat dirt, in some form, through some mechanism - big brother, his best friend, slips in the mud - when they were a kid? I intentionally swallowed some dirt and some apple seeds, waiting to see what would happen.”
Backyard dirt and commercial field dirt are quite different.
I put the tiniest amount of dish detergent in a big bowl with water, then add the fruit and swish it around, then drain it in a colander. And then rinse out the bowl. And then fill the bowl with clean water and add the fruit and swish it, and drain the fruit in a colander, and then rinse in bowl and drain one more time. Depending on the fruit, I let it dry in the colander or dry it with a clean dish towel.
I do this as I unpack the groceries. I don’t put any unwashed fruits or vegetables in my refrigerator. I learned this from a very organized older woman when I was in my late teens.
I rinse all of my fruits and vegetables three times.
@2muchquan Remind me never to come to your house for a meal!
@alwaysamom Ha! I don’t blame you. I don’t wash raw chicken or steaks before I grill either. And, I put dishes in the dishwasher dirty, and use semi-dirty hands to empty it.
Maybe we can order out?
Wow, some of you are using a lot of water for this! I think that’s enough reason to question whether it’s really necessary.
*I won’t even ask how often you change out the sponges/rags/towels in your kitchen… *
I wash my sponge in the dishwasher every night, and toss it on garbage night. Any time I fix meat, I wipe the counters and sink with disposable disinfectant wipes. I use at least one fresh dish towel a day. I put the dish towels in the laundry every night and start fresh the next day.
Interesting to think about and fun thread.
Since I live in a drought area I cut my water usage by 38% in the last two years. But never did I have to cut back on washing fruit or washing my hands. That’s a false economy.
Intestinal sickness…now THATS a big water waster.
I rinse. Melons yes, cucs yes, oranges & bananas no. I have a bizarre paranoia about the baby carrots that have “splits” in them.
Hunt: I have a well, if that matters.
A friend I visit won’t let me wash fruit or vegetables when we cook together at her house, unless I fill the sink with just a bit of water and only use that. It appalls her, too.