It’s mid-summer and the supermarkets and farmstands are bursting with seasonal fresh fruits and vegetables. Should you bring home strawberries, peaches and tomatoes? Aren’t they all on that annual list of fruits and vegetables with high pesticide residues?
Toxicologists around the world agree that the mere presence of pesticide residues does not mean they pose a health risk. Residues are measured in parts per million (ppm) or parts per billion (ppb), like one blade of grass on the lawn. Plus, according to the FDA, washing produce under running tap water can reduce and often eliminate pesticide residues, if they are present at all.
What may surprise many is that there are over 20 chemicals commonly approved for use on organic crops. Organic produce, as well as conventional produce, may have some residue present. In a well regarded paper, in the Journal of Toxicology, the authors point out that the detection limits for pesticide residue are so sensitive today that they can detect residues far below which there are concern for toxicity. The EPA has developed a measure for pesticides called the minimum reference dose (RfD), the amount you could ingest daily for the rest of your life without any ill effects.
To demonstrate how much produce you can consume safely, check out the Pesticide Residue Calculator. A woman could eat 850 apples every day before she consumed a significant amount of pesticide.
According to statistics released by the USDA in December of 2019, on food that is tested annually, 99% of food had residues well below the safety tolerance levels set by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and almost half of the food had no detectable pesticide residues at all.
