Is it obligatory to wash hands before eating fruit?

Hello, 

1. There is no obligation to wash hands before eating fruit, and our Sages said in Tractate Chullin (106a) that one who washes his hands for fruit is among the haughty. This is also ruled in Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim (siman 158, se'if 5). 2. This applies specifically when one’s hands are clean. However, if one’s hands are not clean, it is permitted and necessary to wash hands before reciting the blessing over the fruit (see the Rema there). 

3. Even one whose hands are clean may be strict with himself and wash hands before eating fruit, out of respect for the blessing, as long as he does not do so as an obligation of washing, but only as an ordinary washing (Mishnah Berurah, subparagraph 23). 4. If the fruit is wet with water, there is an obligation to wash hands without a blessing before eating it, like any food that was dipped in one of the seven liquids, which requires handwashing without a blessing before it is eaten (Shulchan Aruch there, se'if 4, and Mishnah Berurah, subparagraph 11). 

With blessings, Hillel Meirs