Should we remove the leaves of a tomato stem before washing it in a food safe sanitation bath?

Hi.

I am a food service worker and i ofter prepare tomatos for our service.

I have been searching for anything talking about weather or not you should remove the leaves of a tomato stem before washing it in a food safe sani bath. By bath i mean that the tomato is submergerd. 

My concern is that because the some tomato leaves sit against the tomato and/or are curled around each other, the sanitizer might not make it into all the tiny places, and then when you pick off the stem the bacteria could transfer to you fingers, and then back onto the tomato. However, anything I have been able to search on the internet makes no mention of this risk. Every picture of a tomato being washed, does have the leaves still attached. Is there a better reason to leave them on?

Does anyone have any insight?

First, welcome to IFSQN Bryan2020.

There is no reason to leave the stem and leaves on.

With the exception of tomatoes that come in on the vine and are sold that way, most tomatoes arrive with stems and leaves off.

Hi Bryan,

If your finished product doesn't need leaves & stems on, I'd either remove them before washing to allow greater surface sanitisation surface contact, or simply bring them in with leaves & stems already removed. I agree with you in terms of leaves potentially hindering the effectiveness of the dip. You could validate by micro testing samples before and after wash for each with and without leaves, may help you persuade management to bring in leaf-less tomatoes if it's a slightly higher cost.

Also, just for your consideration, tomatoe stems, and as far as I know every part of the plant exept the fruit contain solanine, maybe not as interesting, but might be a reason for the removal of the stem and even some part of the fruit. 

yes we can remove that.