If we wash our fruits and vegetables before we eat them to remove pesticides...?!
If we wash our fruits and vegetables before we eat them to remove pesticides...?
does that mean farmers put pesticides on them after every watering and every rain? If not, does that mean we are just fooling ourselves in to thinking that we are removing pesticides when we wash them?
Answers:
I can't beleive I am going to say this, but as far as pesticides go, the most rigorous testing done in the United States is for residues and human health in general. For the most part, I feel pretty comfortable eating non-organic food produced in the United States. I don't know about places like Mexico where DDT is still allowed, but here, pesticides that may affect human health through the consumption of food are pretty well regulated.
What is NOT regulated as well as it could be is the harm to non-human, non-target organisms, meaning, beneficial insects like bees, butterflies, insects in nearby waterways, those are not protected very well, and indirectly, you can be exposed to pesticides that way. Driving through fields and getting your car sprayed on accident (yes, that happens more than you think) is a much larger risk. In addition, the risk is much higher to the applicators of the pesticide than to us. We ingest it yes, but generally pesticides aren't why *I* wash my food. I wash them because they've been handled by humans and I don't want bacteria making me sick.
Anywho, that's a long answer, and I do have to claim some expertise as I work in pesticide regulation for the government. I do see a lot of things that make me very angry and worried as far as pesticide regulation is concerned, but that is not one of them. Pesticides on food are regulated and checked the most of all in the US. I buy organic because I hate how our water, air, soil, compost, etc, is being polluted by these damn toxic chemicals. Watch for your neighbor spraying pesticides on their lawn or in their house for a larger exposure....
Note: Farmers are NOT supposed to apply pesticides within a certain amount of time before harvest. This ensures that the pesticide has degraded enough that it isn't harmful. In addition, applying pesticides right before a rain is idiocy as it is washed off. Using more pesticides = more money and so MANY farmers in the US try to minimize the use. There are always farmers who are idiots and apply more because they can.
good thought but in transit imagine where your fruit & veges were and how they were treated,etc.and who was nibbling on them..
I recon we air fooling ourselves and them people,''
they don't put pesticides on after every watering or rain, they do it periodically just like a pest control service would do your house.
washing our fruits and veggies removes the majority of what we can of the residue before we injest it. just think if you didn't wash them, you'd be injesting whatever they came in contact with: machinery, hands, feet, dirt, pesticides, bugs. so washing does make a difference.
We wash them because imagine how much hands felt the food^.^
After applying pesticides if there was no rain naturally there is a possibility of having it on the veg. It is always better to wash them before cutting and eating
i wash mine throughly and my meat too--except gound beef--doesn't hurt and safer.
Yes- I've heard that to truly remove the pesticides and wax that they put on fruits and vegetables, you really have to boil them. And who is going to do that? It ruins the fruit/vegetable. (Unless you NEED to cook them like that for the recipe.)
WE are just kidding ourselves, but I guess that it must be regulated or everyone who eats fresh fruits and veggies would be sick from the pesticides.
I wash my carrots, bell peppers, and green onions, well all ,,several times before they are all used up.
I like to see the bright color after the scrub brush.
the organic nonsense can not prove any added nutritional value for the increased cost.
Not sure how long it takes to remove pesticides, but that assumes that the pesticides CAN be removed. I believe they stay within the plant, at least a certain percentage, and you do ingest those poisons when you eat non-organic produce.
no, it just means that there are pesticides in the ground/dirt they grow in