What Pesticides Are Used On Strawberries

Contents

- 0.0.1 What pesticide is sprayed on strawberries?
0.1 Do strawberries have pesticides on them?

1 What chemical do they put on strawberries?
2 Do organic strawberries still have pesticides?
- 2.1 Is it safe to eat fruit with pesticides?
- 2.2 Are strawberries on the dirty list?
3 Are frozen strawberries sprayed with pesticides?
- 3.1 Does organic mean no pesticides?
- 3.2 Are strawberries worth buying organic?
4 Do bananas have pesticides?
- 4.1 Are all strawberries non GMO?
5 Can you eat fruit sprayed with pesticides?
- - 5.0.1 Are frozen strawberries sprayed with pesticides?

What pesticide is sprayed on strawberries?

Pesticide Residues Found in Strawberries:

What Pesticide?	How Often is it Found? 6	Conventional vs. Organic
Trifloxystrobin	1.3%	Conventional vs. Organic
Chlorpyrifos	1.3%	Conventional vs. Organic
Pyriproxyfen	0.9%	Conventional vs. Organic
Thiabendazole	0.8%	Conventional vs. Organic

Do strawberries have pesticides on them?

2023 Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 foods released: Strawberries top the list of fruits and vegetables with the most pesticides – ABC7 Los Angeles.

What chemical do they put on strawberries?

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2019 The average American eats about eight pounds of fresh strawberries a year – and with them, dozens of pesticides, including chemicals that have been linked to cancer and reproductive damage, or that are banned in Europe.

Non-organic strawberries tested by scientists at the Department of Agriculture in 2015 and 2016 contained an average of 7.8 different pesticides per sample, compared to 2.2 pesticides per sample for all other produce, according to EWG’s analysis. What’s worse, strawberry growers use jaw-dropping volumes of poisonous gases to sterilize their fields before planting, killing every pest, weed and other living thing in the soil.

USDA tests found that strawberries were the fresh produce item most likely to be contaminated with pesticide residues, even after they are picked, rinsed in the field and washed before eating. For these reasons, strawberries continue to be at the top of the Dirty Dozen™ list.

If you want to avoid pesticides and soil injected with poisonous gases, EWG advises always buying organically grown berries.
We make the same recommendation for other Dirty Dozen foods.
The facts about strawberries and pesticides come from the USDA’s Pesticide Data Program.
Between January 2015 and October 2016, USDA scientists tested 1,174 batches of conventional strawberries – about 89 percent of which were grown in the U.S., with the rest coming from Mexico, except one batch, which came from the Netherlands.

The USDA’s strawberry tests found that:

Almost all samples – 99 percent – had detectable residues of at least one pesticide. Some 30 percent had residues of 10 or more pesticides. The dirtiest strawberry sample had residues of 22 different pesticides and breakdown products. Strawberry samples contained residues of 81 different pesticides in various combinations.

How hazardous are the chemicals used on strawberries? Some are fairly benign. But others are linked to cancer, reproductive and developmental damage, hormone disruption and neurological problems. Among the dangerous varieties are:

Carbendazim, detected on 16 percent of samples, is a hormone-disrupting fungicide that damages the male reproductive system and that the European Union has banned because of safety concerns. Bifenthrin, found on more than 29 percent of samples, is a pyrethroid insecticide that the Environmental Protection Agency and California regulators have designated as a possible human carcinogen.

As disturbing as these results are, they do not violate the weak U.S. laws and regulations for pesticides in food. Only about 5.6 percent of the strawberries sampled in 2015 and 2016 had levels of pesticide residues considered illegal. Of these samples, 28 had pesticide levels above the “tolerance level,” or legally permissible level set by the EPA.

Forty samples contained pesticides illegal for use on strawberries.
The EPA’s tolerance levels are too lenient to protect public health.
They are a yardstick to help the agency’s personnel determine whether farmers are applying pesticides properly.
The levels were set years ago and do not account for newer research showing that toxic chemicals can be harmful at very small doses, particularly when people are exposed to combinations of chemicals.

If pesticide tolerance levels were set to protect the health of children, who are more vulnerable than adults, more fruits and vegetables would fail to meet EPA standards. The current EPA pesticide tolerances are like having a 500-mph speed limit: If the rules of the road are so loose that it’s impossible to violate them, no one can feel safe.

Fresh strawberries were once a seasonal treat, available in limited supply for a few spring and summer months.
In recent decades, the increased use of pesticides and other chemically aided growing methods have made cheap strawberries available all year.
Meanwhile, aggressive marketing of fresh strawberries has spurred consumption – today the average American eats about four times more strawberries per year in the U.S.

than in 1980. The vast majority of the fresh strawberries sold in this country are grown in California, the state that tracks pesticide use most carefully. California data show that in 2015, nearly 300 pounds of pesticides were applied to each acre of strawberries – an astonishing amount, compared to about five pounds of pesticides per acre of corn, which is considered a pesticide-intensive crop.

But only about 20 percent of the chemicals used on California strawberries were pesticides that can leave residues on harvested fruit.
The other 80 percent – more than 9.3 million pounds in 2015 – were fumigants, which are poisonous gases injected directly into the ground to sterilize the soil before planting.

Fumigants are acutely toxic gases that kill every living thing in the soil. Some were developed as chemical warfare agents, now banned by the Geneva Conventions. After growers inject fumigants, they cover the fields with plastic tarps to keep the gas underground and away from people and animals.

But fumigants can leak during application and from torn tarps, sending the deadly fumes adrift and endangering farm workers and people who live nearby.
The most notorious strawberry fumigant is methyl bromide.
In 1987, an international treaty banned methyl bromide because it destroys the Earth’s protective ozone layer.

But for decades, U.S. strawberry growers have fought for so-called critical use exemptions from the EPA, and they were granted access to decreasing amounts of the chemical over the past several decades. The year 2017 was the first time strawberry farmers were not allowed to use methyl bromide.

Strawberry expert Julie Guthman, a professor of social sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz, reported that California growers had not given up strawberry production but had simply shifted to using other licensed fumigants. And the newer soil fumigants replacing methyl bromide are also hazardous.

These include chloropicrin, the active ingredient in tear gas, and 1,3-dichloropropene, a carcinogen sold by Dow Chemical Company as Telone. The EU has banned both. In 2014, the Center for Investigative Reporting revealed how Dow lobbied for and won a loophole to allow California strawberry growers to double their annual use of Telone.

As a result, more than a million Californians were exposed to higher concentrations of Telone than was previously considered safe, according to the Center.
The same year, a state study found that chloropicrin in the air in Watsonville, a rapidly growing city in the heart of the California strawberry belt, exceeded the state’s safety standard by 40 percent.

The organic alternative to fumigation combines the traditional tool of crop rotation, meant to control the buildup of pests and pathogens, with a new technology that’s akin to composting, Growers mix a carbon-rich material such as rice bran or molasses into topsoil, which is then saturated with water and covered with a plastic tarp.

Under the tarp, the organic slurry gives off natural byproducts that are toxic to pathogens. This method works as effectively as fumigation, with growers that use it reporting almost no loss in crop yield. It’s also more expensive, driving up the cost of organic strawberries – which are more than $3 a pound in the store, compared to about $2 a pound for the conventional variety.

As more growers turn away from pesticides and fumigants, the price of organic produce is expected to drop. For those of us who don’t want to eat pesticide residues and who want to stop fumigants from endangering farmworkers and neighbors of farms, the cost of organic produce is a small price to pay.

Do organic strawberries still have pesticides?

After our investigation revealed just how much dangerous pesticides it takes to grow strawberries, many people wrote to us saying they would start buying organic. But even that won’t fully address the problem: When they are starting out, organic strawberry plants are grown with the help of fumigants, the hard-to-control class of pesticides that have been linked to cancer, developmental problems and the hole in the ozone layer.

Strawberries don’t grow up where they are born.
They get their start in nurseries in inland Northern California before being shipped south in an effort to mimic natural progression of winter to spring.
They finish their lifespan along the California coast in places such as Monterey and Ventura counties.

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Regardless of whether one of these baby plants – known as starts – ends up on a conventional or organic farm, the nursery soil is pumped with fumigants to eradicate the pests and diseases that can haunt strawberry farmers. If they’re matured on an organic farm, these strawberries still can be certified organic.

The federal code allows organic farmers to use strawberry starts grown in fumigated soil if there are no organic starts “commercially available.” And that’s the case in California. There isn’t a single organic strawberry nursery in the state. James Rickert’s Prather Ranch ran one from 2005 to 2009. The few who used his organic starts loved them,

But, Rickert said, many organic farmers worried that they might import soil-borne pests into their own farms, even though Rickert’s plants were certified pest-free. Rickert made organic starts commercially available, so why didn’t organic growers have to use them? Here’s the deal: National standards allow organic farmers to use nonorganic starts if “equivalent varieties” to what they usually plant are not commercially available.

That clause was originally included more than a decade ago to help the fledgling organic industry make the best of what was available.
But today, it’s more of a lagging loophole.
The problem is that “equivalent varieties” phrase – it allows a lot of wiggle room.
For example, many organic farmers don’t sell their strawberries under their own name.

Instead, they grow directly for big distributors, like Driscoll’s. And those big distributors require their growers to use special varieties of strawberries that only the company owns – known as proprietary plants. Independent nurseries don’t have access to those plants, so they can’t grow them.

That meant when Rickert came along with his organic starts, many organic strawberry growers were able to pass on using them.
He couldn’t grow the specific varieties they used.
Rickert and others sent a letter to the U.S.
Department of Agriculture in 2011, encouraging the government to update its standards to require organic strawberry starts in order for the berries to carry an organic label.

An official told The Bay Citizen in 2011 that updated standards would do exactly that, but the most recent 2013 standards still have the loophole. “I’d love to get back in that industry but I just don’t feel like anything has changed,” Rickert told me.

“Until, ‘We will not certify your strawberries unless you grow with organic plants,’ I really don’t think there’s a business opportunity there.” Keep in mind that organic strawberries really do require fewer fumigants than conventional ones. Organic strawberry growers do not use fumigants. Once the strawberry start leaves the fumigated soil of the nursery, it’s supposed to never see a synthetic pesticide again to be labeled organic.

Conventional growers, on the other hand, fumigate their soil before planting the starts. And these farms – unlike the nurseries – are more likely to be near higher-density areas. See, for example, Monterey and Ventura counties on our Pesticides Hotspots map,

These areas have more people living near farms than there are people living near nurseries in, say, Shasta or Lassen counties. Still, soil fumigation at the strawberry nursery level is something to watch. While the ozone-depleting fumigant methyl bromide was supposed to be phased out nine years ago, nursery growers continue to use it thanks to loopholes and exemptions.

In Siskiyou County, California, for example, the use of methyl bromide has increased, Why do growers need so much methyl bromide? Because of the county’s sizable strawberry nursery industry. Many organic farmers don’t mind, though. It’s better to be extra safe and use a strawberry start grown in fumigated soil, they say.

Is it safe to eat fruit with pesticides?

Is food grown using pesticides safe to eat? – EPA is confident that the fruits and vegetables our children are eating are safer than ever. Under FQPA, EPA evaluates new and existing pesticides to ensure that they can be used with a reasonable certainty of no harm to infants and children as well as adults.

EPA works continually to review and improve safety standards that apply to pesticide residues on food.
It is important to note though, that just because a pesticide residue is detected on a fruit or vegetable, that does not mean it is unsafe.
Very small amounts of pesticides that may remain in or on fruits, vegetables, grains, and other foods decrease considerably as crops are harvested, transported, exposed to light, washed, prepared and cooked.

The presence of a detectible pesticide residue does not mean the residue is at an unsafe level. USDA’s Pesticide Data Program (PDP) detects residues at levels far lower than those that are considered health risks.

Are strawberries on the dirty list?

Blueberries, beloved by nutritionists for their anti-inflammatory properties, have joined fiber-rich green beans in this year’s Dirty Dozen of nonorganic produce with the most pesticides, according to the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit environmental health organization.

In the 2023 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce, researchers analyzed testing data on 46,569 samples of 46 fruits and vegetables conducted by the US Department of Agriculture. Each year, a rotating list of produce is tested by USDA staffers who wash, peel or scrub fruits and vegetables as consumers would before the food is examined for 251 different pesticides.

As in 2022, strawberries and spinach continued to hold the top two spots on the Dirty Dozen, followed by three greens – kale, collard and mustard. Listed next were peaches, pears, nectarines, apples, grapes, bell and hot peppers, and cherries. Blueberries and green beans were 11th and 12th on the list.

SEE ALSO | Westmont grocery store sets record for world’s largest banana display with 70K pounds of fruit A total of 210 pesticides were found on the 12 foods, the report said. Kale, collard and mustard greens contained the largest number of different pesticides – 103 types – followed by hot and bell peppers at 101.

“Some of the USDA’s tests show traces of pesticides long since banned by the Environmental Protection Agency. Much stricter federal regulation and oversight of these chemicals is needed,” the report said. “Pesticides are toxic by design,” said Jane Houlihan, former senior vice president of research for EWG.

Are frozen strawberries sprayed with pesticides?

Are Frozen Berries Healthier Then Fresh? In addition to being a delicious part of any diet, berries have long been considered super foods that are packed with essential vitamins, minerals, and powerful antioxidants. Berries are often available both frozen and fresh, but few consumers realize that frozen berries are often the healthier choice.

Many people erroneously believe that “fresh is best”, but when it comes to berries, the frozen varieties have a higher concentration of nutritional elements, and are often spared from the large amounts of pesticides that are used on fresh berries found in a supermarket.
Numerous studies have found that frozen berries contain the same nutritional elements as fresh berries that have just been harvested.

However, this does not mean that “fresh” berries found in the produce section of a grocery store are a better choice than frozen berries. Unlike the berries cited in these studies, the fresh berries that are readily available to consumers when in season are already days past harvest by the time they arrive at the market, since most berries endure several days of travel to make it to their final destination.

As each day passes, the berries slowly lose the nutrients that were so concentrated when they were picked. In comparison, are almost always flash frozen the same day that they are harvested, preserving the natural nutrients and antioxidants that are present at the peak of freshness. According to studies conducted by John Hopkins University, the process of freezing just harvested berries results in berries that maintain their optimal nutrition levels for months at a time, making it possible to easily incorporate these super foods into a diet just by opening the freezer.

Like many crops, commercially grown berries are often exposed to a number of pesticides. In most cases, commercial farms specialize in either growing berries that will be sold fresh or sold frozen. In some instances, farms will grow both, but the crops are designated and grown separately from each other.

Berries that are grown with the intention of being frozen are exposed to a significantly lower amount of pesticides than their counterparts that are sent to the grocery store fresh.
The reason for this is that fresh berries must maintain a good appearance for days, or even a week or more, as they are transported and then sold to consumers.

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This requires large amounts of pesticides and sprays to be administered before and after harvest. Thus, the berries that end up frozen have much lower levels of pesticide and crop spray exposure and residue. To display this dramatic difference between fresh and frozen we have taken data from the USDA pesticide testing program.

The USDA data shows 52 different pesticide residues on a fresh blueberry vs. only 21 on a frozen blueberry. Although we at advocate eating wild or organic berries as much as possible, it’s clear when not available, frozen berries are the best choice for maintaining optimal health. Frozen berries are available year round, and are usually less expensive than their “fresh” counterparts.

Combine that with the fact that frozen berries contain the same nutrients as freshly harvested berries, and maintain those nutrients for months or years while being stored in the freezer, and it is easy to see why purchasing frozen berries is a good idea.

Sources Ann Marie Connor, James J.
Luby, James F.
Hancock, Steven Berkheimer, and Eric J.
Hanson, “Changes In Fruit Antioxidant Activity Among Blueberry Cultivars During Cold-Temperature Storage,” Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, vol.50, no.4, pp.893-898, 2002.
Virachnee Lohachoompol, George Srzednicki, and John Craske, “The Change of Total Anthocyanins in Blueberries and Their Antioxidant Effect After Drying and Freezing,” Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology, vol.2004, no.5, pp.248-252, 2004.

Mariana-Atena Poiana,Diana Moigradean, Diana Raba, Liana-Maria Alda and Mirela Popa, “The Effect of Long-Term Frozen Storage on the Nutraceutical Compounds, Antioxidant Properties and Color Indices of Different Kinds of Berries,” Journal of Food, Agriculture & Environment, vol.8, no.1, pp.54-58, 2010.

Does organic mean no pesticides?

Organic foods are not necessarily pesticide-free. In the United States, only pesticides that meet the criteria of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Organic Program may be used in organic crop production, Sometimes people refer to pesticides based on natural substances as “organic pesticides,” or “naturally derived pesticides.” Pesticides allowed in organic agriculture are typically not human-made, although there are exceptions.

Learn about the differences between organic and conventional food production, Terms like “free-range,” “hormone-free,” and “natural” do not mean organic. Both the active ingredients and the other ingredients in a pesticide product must meet the USDA’s criteria to be allowed for use in organic agriculture. For example, a pesticide containing an approved active ingredient would not be suitable for organic agriculture if it also contains a synthetic “other ingredient” such as petroleum distillates. Pesticide product labels may display a certain logo, indicating they meet USDA criteria for use in organic production. Organic farms may need to follow additional rules specified by their accredited certifying agent. If you’re thinking about going organic, you can learn about the certification process through the USDA Organic Program.

Are strawberries worth buying organic?

People often debate the relative merits of buying organic fruits and vegetables versus conventional ones. People coming to this site often ask, “Are organic strawberry plants better than non-organic ones?” Opinions vary as much as people do, and it is often hard to answer objectively. Proponents of organic strawberry plants say that organic farming produces healthier fruits, use more sustainable agricultural practices, and keep toxins out of both the fruits and the people who consume them. Supporters of conventional agriculture claim fad status for organic farming and say that “this too shall pass.” They claim that organic farming costs the consumer more and offers no tangible benefits.

Due to the complexity of agricultural ecosystems, it has been tremendously difficult to wade through the propaganda of each side and rely on the scientific data. Well, times are a changin’. A new study has cut through the fog John Reganold led a study entitled ” Fruit and Soil Quality of Organic and Conventional Strawberry Agroecosystems,” which has now been published.

Reganold is a Washington State University Regents professor of soil science. His study answers conclusively the debate. Are organic strawberry plants better? Absolutely. His study persuasively shows that there are significant environmental and nutritional benefits to raising organic strawberry plants.

The study was conducted on 26 different plots.13 were conventional fields and 13 were organic strawberry fields.
In order to control the variables more effectively, pairs of fields were planted.
Each organic plot was adjacent to a conventional plot in order to reduce the effect of weather and soil type so that results wouldn’t be tainted due to field location.

Multiple specialists contributed to the testing of the soil and fruits. Geneticists, statisticians, and food scientists all took part in analysis of three different varieties in California. The results are striking. Organically-grown strawberries taste better, are more nutritious, and are better for soil and environment than are conventionally-grown strawberries. Interestingly enough, the organic strawberry plants themselves were healthier. They succumbed less often to fungal diseases after strawberry harvest despite the fact that no fungicides were applied to the organic fields. This astounding fact may indicate that organic agroecosystems may grant a significant measure of systemic resistance through natural processes instead of through anti-fungal chemicals.

Even for those who care nothing for the organic vs.
Conventional debate and only care about the taste, the study is important.
The conventional strawberries did not surpass any of the organic varieties in sensory appeal.
However, one third of the organic varieties proved more pleasing to consumers based on appearance and sweetness,

The soil quality of the organic fields also proved to be superior to the conventional fields. Methyl bromide has been used as a toxic fumigant to sterilize the strawberry fields for decades. It is already banned in many countries and is supposed to be phased out in the USA as well.

However, the likely replacement, methyl iodide, may prove to be even more toxic.
The organic soils proved to have much more biological diversity (more unique genetic material), which is generally an indication of soil health.
The organic soils had more iron, zinc, boron, and sodium than the conventional soils.

It also had more enzyme activity, sequestered more carbon, and had more micronutrients, despite the fact that conventional soils are routinely sprayed with synthetic fertilizers. Now, the facts are in. Are organic strawberry plants better than conventionally-grown ones? Yes.

Yes, indeed.
As organic strawberry farming spreads, people will have less exposure to toxic chemicals, healthier dirt, and more nutritious strawberries.
That sounds like a good reason to promote organic strawberry plants to me.
If it sounds like a good idea to you too, use the Share/Save button below to share this with a friend! And, learn more about growing strawberries and the benefits of growing your own strawberries,

If you can’t grow them yourself, here is how to at least buy good ones,

Do bananas have pesticides?

Did You Know that Bananas aren’t really a fruit? – Bananas are both a fruit and not a fruit, While the banana plant is colloquially called a banana tree, it’s actually an herb distantly related to ginger, since the plant has a succulent tree stem, instead of a wood one.

The yellow thing you peel and eat is, in fact, a fruit because it contains the seeds of the plant. Although since bananas have been commercially grown, the plants are sterile, and the seeds have gradually been reduced to little specs. The banana fruits develop from the banana heart, in a large hanging cluster, made up of tiers (called “hands”), with up to 20 fruit to a tier.

The hanging cluster is known as a bunch, comprising 3–20 tiers, or commercially as a “banana stem”, and can weigh 30–50 kilograms (66–110 lb). Individual banana fruits (commonly known as a banana or “finger”) average 125 grams (0.276 lb), of which approximately 75% is water and 25% dry matter.

The fruit has been described as a “leathery berry”. There is a protective outer layer (a peel or skin) with numerous long, thin strings (the phloem bundles ), which run lengthwise between the skin and the edible inner portion. The inner part of the common yellow dessert variety can be split lengthwise into three sections that correspond to the inner portions of the three carpels by manually deforming the unopened fruit.

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In cultivated varieties, the seeds are diminished nearly to non-existence; their remnants are tiny black specks in the interior of the fruit. The chief of sustainable agriculture for the non-profit organization Rainforest Alliance Chris Willie talked to NPR’s All Things Considered about how the climate presents a variety of dangers to banana harvesting,

He explained that the warm, humid, remote plantations are prone to the growth of an airborne fungus called Black Sigotoka.
This growth can destroy an entire plantation in about a week – a costly problem for this profitable fruit.
Burrowing and spiral Nematodes, popularly known as roundworms, Worms, fruit-hungry insects, banana aphids, banana weevils, spiders and tree diseases are also common problems in banana plantations, Willie told NPR.

To combat these risk factors, most banana farmers and fruit companies turn to a cocktail of pesticides that can help reduce the damage from each of the banana’s many enemies. Examine some the most common pesticides used on banana plantations to understand the industry better, whether as a researcher or consumer.

Chlorpyrifos – An insecticide, acaricide and miticide, chlorpyrifos is an organophosphate used on many crops throughout the world. Although formerly used as a household insecticide, the Environmental Protection Agency has placed many restrictions on the product, which has been found to have negative effects on those who use the chemical compound. Chlorpyrifos, chemically written as C9H11Cl3NO3PS, has been in use for more than 40 years and is seen by some as a smart alternative to pesticides that kill beneficial insects.

Thiabendazole – Thiabendazole, also known as the medications Mintezol and Tresaderm, is a fungicide and parasiticide that is used on banana planatations. Its chemical formula is C10H7N3S. Thiabendazole is the most common pesticide residue found in bananas, occuring in 48.1 percent of the bananas tested, according to the Pesticide Action Network North America. Although banana farmers use particularly high amounts of pesticides, with the Environmental Working Group putting the number at 35 pounds per acre, the residues aside from thiabendazole are particularly low because the banana peel protects the edible portion from many chemicals.

Azoxystrobin – Azoxystrobin is also a fungicide, used for a variety of produce farming. Known by commercial names including Amistar and Heritage, azoxystrobin is effective against multiple fungi such as powdery mildew, late blight, apple scab and rusts. Absorbed through the banana tree’s roots it moves through the leaves to keep fungus at bay. Referred to as Methyl (E)-2- -3-methoxyacrylate), azoxystrobin has a low toxicity to most avian, aquatic and terrestrial animals.

Imidacloprid – Imidacloprid is a neonicotinoid, which acts as a neurotoxic insecticide. This chemical compound, 1-(6-chloro-3-pyridylmethyl)-N-nitroimidazolidin-2-ylideneamine, can be used as a seed treatment or applied topically, and is effective against soil, chewing and sucking insects, according to the National Pesticide Information Centre, a joint body between the EPA and Oregon State University.

Are all strawberries non GMO?

Strawberries and Hybridization Are Strawberries GMOs? It is important to note there are currently no genetically modified strawberries on the market. If you see a ‘non-GMO’ label on a package of strawberries, remember all strawberries are non-GMO, even if the label doesn’t say so.

Can you eat fruit sprayed with pesticides?

Should consumers be concerned about eating any of the fruits/veggies listed in the report? Are organic fruits and vegetables a safer alternative? – Dr. Winter: In toxicology, “it’s the dose that makes the poison.” In other words, it’s the amount of the chemical rather than the presence or absence that determines the potential for harm.

It’s important to note that the levels at which we detect these pesticides are so low that consumers have nothing to worry about.
The most important thing consumers can do is to eat fruits and vegetables, period, regardless of whether they are organic or conventional.
While some studies suggest a lower likelihood of finding pesticide residue in organic foods, there can still be some detectable level of pesticides.

However, as with conventional foods, the levels of pesticide residue found are extremely low and not a health concern. Consumers should not restrict consumption of certain types of produce based on the EWG report. Again, the best thing consumers can do is to eat a diet that includes lots of fruits and vegetables, whether organic or conventionally-grown.

tags: fruits, vegetables, food safety, pesticides, ewg

Are frozen strawberries sprayed with pesticides?

Many people erroneously believe that “fresh is best”, but when it comes to berries, the frozen varieties have a higher concentration of nutritional elements, and are often spared from the large amounts of pesticides that are used on fresh berries found in a supermarket. Numerous studies have found that frozen berries contain the same nutritional elements as fresh berries that have just been harvested.

As each day passes, the berries slowly lose the nutrients that were so concentrated when they were picked. In comparison, are almost always flash frozen the same day that they are harvested, preserving the natural nutrients and antioxidants that are present at the peak of freshness. According to studies conducted by John Hopkins University, the process of freezing just harvested berries results in berries that maintain their optimal nutrition levels for months at a time, making it possible to easily incorporate these super foods into a diet just by opening the freezer.

Berries that are grown with the intention of being frozen are exposed to a significantly lower amount of pesticides than their counterparts that are sent to the grocery store fresh.
The reason for this is that fresh berries must maintain a good appearance for days, or even a week or more, as they are transported and then sold to consumers.

The USDA data shows 52 different pesticide residues on a fresh blueberry vs.
Only 21 on a frozen blueberry.
Although we at advocate eating wild or organic berries as much as possible, it’s clear when not available, frozen berries are the best choice for maintaining optimal health.
Frozen berries are available year round, and are usually less expensive than their “fresh” counterparts.

Sources Ann Marie Connor, James J.
Luby, James F.
Hancock, Steven Berkheimer, and Eric J.
Hanson, “Changes In Fruit Antioxidant Activity Among Blueberry Cultivars During Cold-Temperature Storage,” Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, vol.50, no.4, pp.893-898, 2002.
Virachnee Lohachoompol, George Srzednicki, and John Craske, “The Change of Total Anthocyanins in Blueberries and Their Antioxidant Effect After Drying and Freezing,” Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology, vol.2004, no.5, pp.248-252, 2004.