A youngest An analysis from advocacy group Consumer Reports is the latest to highlight the potential threat of pesticides in our products. It suggests that about 20% of fruits and vegetables commonly sold in the United States may contain unsafe levels of pesticides. Given this worrying news, you may be wondering how you can reduce your risk of exposure. Rinsing food under running water is a common practice, but does it actually remove significant amounts of pesticide residue? Here’s what the research suggests.
First, it’s important to note that the information Consumer Reports analyzed comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Pesticide Data Program, which has monitored pesticide residue levels in dozens of agricultural products over the past 30 years. These measurements are taken after the product has been washed with water and sometimes peeled depending on the item. Therefore, there is a basic assumption that people wash their products at home.
The effects of laundry products have been empirically studied. State officials at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station published a 2000 study that compared pesticide levels in store-bought produce before and after rinsing with running water. They found that water significantly reduced residues of nine of the twelve pesticides measured.
In later studies they also found checked What happened to batches of products in different scenarios: leave unwashed, wash under running water for one minute, wash with a mixture of soap and water, and wash with four specifically marketed products for washing products? They found that only the unrinsed produce had significantly higher pesticide residues, meaning running water alone was enough to remove pesticides.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends against it Use something other than water to wash fruits and vegetables. This isn’t just a pragmatic, money-saving tip: Many foods are porous, allowing bleach, soap, or other disinfectant ingredients to penetrate them. At the very least, these ingredients could leave a completely unpleasant taste, but that is also the case make yourself sick.
According to the USDAToday, approximately 99% of product samples contain residues below the safety limit set by the Environmental Protection Agency. And the EPA was continually restrict or remove The most dangerous pesticides on food since the mid-1990s. But outside watchdog groups like Consumer Reports use a lower threshold for safety ratings, arguing that many pesticides used today can still be harmful even at lower doses, especially to vulnerable populations like children.
Under these more restrictive criteria, simply washing your produce may not make it completely pesticide-safe. But it’s still advisable to do so for several reasons, according to Jane Houlihan, research director at Healthy Babies, Bright Futures, a nonprofit that has done its own reports on it Exposure to toxic metals in baby food.
“The bottom line: It’s a good idea to wash food before eating it raw or cooking it. Washing reduces pesticide residues and removes soil from the surface that may be contaminated with toxic heavy metals and other pollutants,” Houlihan told Gizmodo. The CDC also notes that washing raw produce can eliminate or reduce the presence of germs that cause food-borne illnesses, such as: Listeria or Salmonella Bacteria.
Some pesticides are known to be carcinogenic, others are endocrine disruptors that can mimic hormones important to our development. Some studies have suggested that low-dose, chronic exposure to pesticides in our diet could potentially contribute to a higher risk of diseases such as heart disease, cancer or type 2 diabetes, although further, higher quality research would be needed to know this for sure . Pesticides are known to be a clear risk of poisoning for people like farm workers who spend most of their time near them.
Eating fruits and vegetables is key to good health and longevity, so you shouldn’t avoid them out of fear of pesticide exposure. But if you’re still worried about chemicals being left in your crisper drawer, that’s the case with organic produce less possible contain high levels of potentially dangerous residues (generally organic crops cannot be treated with synthetic pesticides, and pesticides are generally used as a last resort for pest control). However, organic products tend to be more expensive.
If you want to limit your exposure to pesticides but can’t or don’t want to switch exclusively to organic, you can contact them guide created by Consumer Reports that shows which products have the highest and lowest levels of pesticides. Examples of high-risk products on the list include strawberries, blueberries and green beans, while low-risk products include carrots, onions and mushrooms.