We eat many fruits and veggies at home and I am concerned about the amount pesticides on fruits like strawberries. Is washing the fruit effective enough? Does a thorough wash vs. a quick rinse make any difference?
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migrated from parenting.stackexchange.com May 10 '11 at 6:19
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A long term answer would be to grow your own if possible. That way you have complete control over your food. Or at least purchase from a local farmer that is willing to let you see how he/she grows their produce. Even organics need to be washed. Most all commercial organics use a form of pest control (most likely diatomaceous earth), they also use natural fertilizers like manure and compost. None of those things are items you need to directly ingest. The best advice I have is to wash then soak fruits and vegetables in lukewarm water. After a soak wash again. For foods with pitted surfaces, strawberries, potatoes, etc, use a soft bristled brush to gently scrub the food. That will get most anything off the outside. Of course there will be trace amounts of anything that was sprayed on the item inside of the item. Hope this helps. |
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This might be very dependent on where you live and how 'good' the environment/pesticide guidelines are where you live. Most fruits with a hard 'skin' won't let any pesticides leak through choose those when in doubt. |
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Since you don't know which pesticide (or herbicide) was applied to your produce/fruits, you should opt for both a regular wash, and a wash with acetic acid (vinegar). Many pesticides are non-polar - meaning they're not soluble in water; therefore washing with plain water won't do much good for you. |
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