Pesticides in our Produce

With the BC Home and Garden Show just finished, it seems that the season is upon us for a discussion about home gardening.

And as the weather in the Lower Mainland gets milder, the crocuses and narcissus are starting to emerge from the soil.

Let's start with FAB - a marketing term that means Features and Benefits...why should we garden?

Would it surprise you to know that pesticide residues on some fruits and vegetables can exceed safe limits for children?

According to a recent study of 27,000 food samples , most were found to be within the established U.S. legal limits for pesticides on those foods. However, legal limits do not define safety, and residues of some chemicals on some foods would frequently expose a young child to a dose greater than the government's official estimate of the 'safe' daily intake of those pesticides.

The foods found to have the highest levels of pesticide residues were domestic and imported peaches, grapes, apples, pears and spinach; U.S.-grown green beans; and U.S.-grown winter squash, both fresh and frozen.

Of these, peaches and frozen winter squash had the highest residue quantities, about 10-fold higher than the other "high scores", according to the study.

Foods with the lowest levels of pesticide residues were frozen/canned corn, milk, U.S. orange juice, U.S. broccoli, bananas and canned peaches.

Slightly higher, but still within legal limits, were frozen/canned sweet peas, U.S. and imported apple juice, Mexican frozen winter squash, Canadian tomatoes, Brazilian orange juice and U.S. wheat.

U.S.-grown foods were just as likely to contain harmful pesticide residues as foods from other countries. In fact, 11 of the 12 highest residue scores were found on U.S. grown foods, according to the study.

This is a list of fruits and vegetables, rated by pesticide levels :

1. Fresh Peaches
2. Winter Squash
3. Apples
4. Pears
5. Fresh Spinach
6. Green Beans
7. Grapes
8. Celery
9. Lettuce
10. Soybeans
11. Potatoes
12. Tomatoes
13. Carrots
14. Oranges

c 2001 The Vegetarian Site

Your best defense is to buy organic, whenever you can, and to consider a home garden.

This spring, watch for my posts on Gardening 101!

Live healthy and prosper...Billie