A July 2019 study by Graz University of Technology, Austria found that,
“The bacteria, fungi and viruses in our food transiently colonize our gut … Cooking kills most of these, so raw fruit and veg are particularly important sources of gut microbes."
"Putting together the averages for each apple component, we estimate a typical 240g apple contains roughly 100 million bacteria…"
"Freshly harvested, organically managed apples harbor a significantly more diverse, more even and distinct bacterial community, compared to conventional ones …”
“This variety and balance would be expected to limit overgrowth of any one species, and previous studies have reported a negative correlation between human pathogen abundance and microbiome diversity of fresh produce."
"Escherichia-Shigella - a group of bacteria that includes known pathogens - was found in most of the conventional apple samples, but none from organic apples. For beneficial Lactobacilli - of probiotic fame - the reverse was true."
"Methylobacterium, known to enhance the biosynthesis of strawberry flavor compounds, was significantly more abundant in organic apples; here especially on peel and flesh samples, which in general had a more diverse microbiota than seeds, stem or calyx."