The Truth about Pesticides and Produce and How to Protect Yourself

Due to industrialised agriculture, almost all crops are contaminated with pesticides and fungicides. Surprisingly, even organic produce may contain some pesticide residues.

Therefore, washing produce is important to prevent foodborne illness and substantially reduce your exposure to pesticides.

While washing your produce is important. The best way to reduce your pesticide exposure is to choose organic food when you can, especially for the foods most likely to be contaminated with pesticides. But whether buying conventional or organic produce, it’s also important to wash your store-bought fruits and veggies before eating or cooking with them.

So why are pesticides used on crops when they are toxic? Which foods are the most important to buy organic? And what is the best way to wash fruit and vegetables to remove pesticides?

Why Are Pesticides Used on Produce?

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), pesticides are used to control pests and other disease carriers, such as mosquitoes, ticks, rats, and mice. They are also used to control weeds, insect infestations, and diseases.

There are many types of pesticides, including:

• Herbicides: Glyphosate, which is manufactured by the company Monsanto and used in the production of their weed-killer, Roundup, is one type of herbicide that may be used on conventional (non-organic) crops. This common herbicide has been linked to cancer and endocrine disruption.

• Insecticides: Organophosphates are one group of insecticides commonly used on produce. Diazinon is one such organophosphate that’s still being used in agriculture despite its damaging effects on the nervous system. Chlorpyrifos is another organophosphate that was recently banned, although only after 14 years of pressure from environmental and labour groups.

A large body of evidence links pesticide exposure to an elevated rate of chronic diseases, including:

• Cancer and diabetes

• Neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and ALS

• Birth defects and reproductive disorders

• Asthma, COPD, and more

These are very real risks for those exposed to pesticides. Many of the more severe cases often happen to agricultural workers who are exposed to pesticides on the job.

Why Does Organic Produce Have Pesticides?

Many shoppers choose organic foods because they believe they are grown and produced without the use of pesticides. And because many pesticides are banned from organic agriculture, it is indeed a big step in the right direction. But nearly all farmers — even organic farmers — use some pesticides. They just use different ones.

Why would organic farmers use pesticides? Like conventional farmers or anyone who has a backyard garden, organic farmers are faced with weeds, insects, and diseases.

But most of the pesticides on the USDA Organic list of allowed substances are natural in origin. While conventional farmers are allowed to use 900 different synthetic pesticides, organic farmers are allowed to use only 25 synthetic pesticides, and then only in carefully regulated ways.

Why Choosing Organic Produce Is the Best and Safest Choice — Especially for Children and Pregnant Women

Eating organically grown foods not only reduces your exposure to harmful pesticide residue but also to antibiotic-resistant bacteria. This is backed by research from Stanford University that analyzed 17 different studies comparing the health effects of organic and conventional foods.

While choosing organic is probably the safest option for everyone, it’s especially important for pregnant women and children to avoid exposure to pesticides.

Children are at higher risk for pesticide toxicity than adults because the developing brain is more susceptible to neurotoxins, and the dose of pesticides per body weight is likely to be higher in children.

Children whose mothers were exposed to high levels of pesticides have also been found to have lower IQs compared to children with the lowest levels of pesticide exposure. And, children exposed to pesticides are at an increased risk for a variety of chronic conditions, including learning and behavioral problems.

According to a study in Pediatrics, higher than median levels of pesticide residue in the urine were associated with double the odds of ADHD compared to those with undetectable levels.

The Most Important Foods to Buy Organically Grown

While it is always best to buy organic produce where possible, at times we can't always choose or afford organic produce. This is where it is useful to make informed decision on which fruits and vegetables are safe to buy when conventionally grown as they have a low contamination profile and use minimal pesticides and fungicides when cultivated.

Here’s a helpful tool you can use to guide you in your purchases: The Environmental Working Group compiles a list every year of the most and least contaminated produce and updates it every year.

Here is EWG’s list of the most contaminated produce of 2024— The Dirty Dozen (and most important to buy organic):

1. Strawberries

2. Spinach

3. Kale, Collard, & Mustard Greens

4. Grapes

5. Peaches

6. Pears

7. Nectarines

8. Apples

9. Bell and Hot Peppers

10. Cherries

11. Blueberries

12. Green Beans

    
    

And here is their 2024 list of the least contaminated produce — The Clean Fifteen:

1. Avocados

2. Sweet Corn

3. Pineapples

4. Onions

5. Papayas

6. Sweet Peas, frozen

7. Asparagus

8. Honeydew Melon

9. Kiwi

10. Cabbage

11. Mushrooms

12. Mangoes

13. Sweet Potatoes

14. Watermelons

15. Carrots

    
    

How to Wash Produce

Do you usually wash your produce by rinsing it under cold, running water? Most people do. This method works well to remove some of the pesticide residues from some forms of produce.

Scientists at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station found that washing produce with running water reduced the amount of pesticide residue for 9 of the 12 tested pesticides. Clearly running water can help, but what about using products called “produce cleaners?” Should you use them?

Research has shown that most commercial produce cleaners are no more effective than plain water. But several other methods of washing produce have been shown to be more effective than plain water.

Washing Produce with Salt Water

Salt water is one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to remove certain pesticides. In a study published in Food Control, researchers washed vegetables for 20 minutes in a vinegar solution, a saltwater solution, or plain water to eliminate the residue of four common pesticides — chlorpyrifos, DDT, cypermethrin, and chlorothalonil.

They discovered that a 10% saltwater solution was effective in removing a large percentage of pesticides from produce, far more so than washing with plain water.

A 10% vinegar solution was found to be equally as effective. But using vinegar regularly might get expensive and can leave foods with an unwelcome vinegary flavor, making it less than ideal for a daily vegetable wash.

Ultrasonic Cleaners for Pesticide Removal

Another more high-tech option for removing pesticides from produce is an ultrasonic cleaner. Ultrasonic cleaning came about in the 1950s and has had many industrial cleaning applications. Now, small, handheld devices are available for home use, specifically, ultrasonic vegetable cleaners.

Ultrasonic cleaners use sound waves to form tiny bubbles on the surface area of produce (a phenomenon called cavitation). When the bubbles implode, they dissolve organic compounds. One study on strawberries found that washing fruits and vegetables in tap or ozone-treated water to remove pesticides was most effective with the assistance of an ultrasonic cleaner.

A more recent study also tested the removal of three pesticides from cabbage and found that ultrasonic cleaning with a baking soda and water solution was up to 92% effective at removing all pesticide residue.

Although using ultrasonic cleaners to wash produce seems to be an effective pesticide removal tool, their cost might make them out of reach for the average person. Typical models can cost well over $100.

The Best Way to Wash Fruits and Vegetables

What may be the best and most affordable way to clean fruits and veggies comes from a recent study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, which compared the effectiveness of plain water, a Clorox bleach solution, and a baking soda and water solution.

Perhaps surprisingly, the baking soda solution was found to be most effective at removing pesticide residues from the surface of apples.

The baking soda solution used in the study was very weak — a mixture of only one ounce of baking soda with 100 ounces of water. And it took 12–15 minutes of soaking to completely remove the pesticides.

So what does all this mean for you? How should you use this information to wash your produce?

How to Wash Vegetables

In the studies mentioned above, researchers cleaned produce much longer than most of us would on an ordinary day. But this should not prevent us from putting their methods to use. Most people would never wash vegetables for longer than a couple of minutes, so we’ve adapted the results of these studies to more practical everyday use.

Admittedly, it won’t be quite as effective as the study results, but it should be more effective than plain water.

Here’s a quick and easy way to wash veggies using baking soda:

For leafy greens

1. Fill a salad spinner with greens, then fill it with water.

2. Add a teaspoon of baking soda and mix well.

3. Soak your greens for ten minutes, swish, dump, then rinse and spin dry.

4. If you don’t have a salad spinner, you can add the greens, water, and baking soda to a bowl, let them soak, drain in a strainer, rinse, then pat leaves dry with a clean lint-free kitchen towel or paper towels.

   
   

For mushrooms

There is some debate in the culinary world about how to clean mushrooms.

Some chefs prefer to gently wipe mushrooms with a damp towel. However, to clean mushrooms thoroughly, you can gently scrub them using a mushroom brush and then rinse them quickly under running water. After that, blot the mushrooms dry with a clean kitchen towel or paper towel.

For other veggies

1. Fill a large bowl with cold water.

2. Mix in baking soda (about a teaspoon for every 16 ounces of water).

3. Add the veggies.

4. Soak for ten minutes.

5. Drain.

6. Scrub with a brush.

7. And finally, rinse off the veggies.

How to Wash Fruits

Smooth-skinned fruits, such as apples, nectarines, and cherries, can be washed in a baking soda bath the same way as veggies.

Berries can be rinsed under cold water in a mesh strainer, then gently patted dry with a clean kitchen towel or paper towels just before you intend to eat them.

Although your instinct may be to rinse off berries when you bring them home, doing so actually increases moisture and accelerates spoilage, microflora, and mold. This is why it’s best to rinse them shortly before you eat them.

What’s the Takeaway?

Try to choose organic produce as much as possible, especially if you are a pregnant woman or when shopping for food for children.

For practicing good food hygiene, learning how to wash produce is important, whether it’s organic or conventional. When washing your fruits and vegetables, making your own baking soda solution may be the best option to remove pesticides.

But this shouldn’t be something that causes you stress. Simply soaking your vegetables for a few minutes or rinsing your produce in running water will help make the food you eat and serve safer.

Eating fresh fruits and vegetables is one of the best things you can do for your health. But take the next step and do the best you can to clean them, knowing that it is beneficial for your health and when you sit down to share a meal the health of those you love and cherish.