The War Between Clean Vs Dirty Produce

Oh Gosh! A Wash is Not All!

Foods are classified as healthy or unhealthy. But what’s all this fuss about classifying produce as clean or dirty? This classification does help to avoid eating pesticide-laden produce that might put you at a greater risk of cancer and other diseases. Going organic has become a style statement, but with produce it actually does prove a point as certain organic produce can reduce the toxic consumption from produce by as much as 80%.

Getting to know your dirty versus clean produce helps you avoid consuming a chemical cocktail. Also keep in mind that simply because a produce falls under the ‘dirty’ category, it is not a sin to eat it. Choosing organic or washing your produce thoroughly will help remove as much chemicals as possible. On the other hand, just because a produce falls under the ‘clean’ category it does not mean that it’s the best choice. Most of the cleanest fruits are tropical and this means, some people might not find them locally or they may be genetically modified (GMO), both of which don’t make them as clean and healthy for those people.

Environmental Working Group (EWG), a non-profit environmental organization ranks pesticide contamination in 47 popular produce since the year 2004 and the list for 2018 is out:

Top Dirty Produce

1. Strawberries: 2018 too saw strawberries top the dirty produce list for the third time in the past three years. One strawberry sample contained 22 pesticide residues and a third of all samples contained 10 or more pesticides.
2. Spinach: Pesticides are chemicals that kill unwanted insects, plants, molds and rodents and spinach seems to contain abundant of them-almost 97% of spinach samples contained pesticide residues.
3. Nectarines: 94% of these samples contained two or more pesticides. One sample of nectarine contained residues of 15 pesticides.
4. Apples: We fear nowadays to eat an apple with its skin owing to the innumerable pesticides (90% sample contained pesticide) and wax (to make the apples look glossy and fresh) present.
5. Grapes: Contain an average of 5 pesticide residues with 96% samples testing positive for pesticide residues.
6. Peaches: Peaches almost hit century with 99% samples containing residues with an average of 4 pesticides per sample.
7. Cherries
8. Pears: More than 50% of pears tested positive for 5 or more residues.
9. Tomatoes
10. Celery: More than 93% samples contained residues
11. Potatoes: These had the maximum pesticide residue by weight compared to other produce
12. Sweet bell pepper: Said to have lesser residues compared to other produce, the pesticides present tend to be more toxic to human health.
13. Hot peppers (Chilies): Almost 75% of chili samples contained pesticides that tend to be extremely toxic in nature.
    
    

Top Clean Produce

1. Avocados: Fewer than 1% of avocado samples contained pesticides with only one pesticide found in any of the 360 avocados.
2. Sweet corn: Less than 2% of sweet corn samples contained pesticides.
3. Pineapples: 90% of samples had no presence of pesticides and the remaining samples had only 5 different pesticides in them.
4. Cabbages: Almost 96% of cabbage samples had no pesticide residues with only two of more than 700 cabbage samples containing more than one pesticide residue.
5. Onions: Less than 10% contained residues with all of these having less than three pesticide residues.
6. Frozen sweet peas: Almost 80% of frozen peas had no pesticides and the remaining 20% had only less than two pesticides.
7. Papayas: Almost 80% papaya samples had no pesticides
8. Asparagus: 90% samples had no residues and even if present, there were not more than three pesticides in any sample.
9. Mangoes: 78% had no pesticide residues
10. Brinjals: More than 75% samples had no residues and the other samples had no more than three pesticide residues
11. Honeydew melon (a type of muskmelon): Almost 50% of these had no residues and the remaining 50% had not more than four pesticides.
12. Kiwis: 65% kiwis had no detectable pesticide residues
13. Muskmelon: More than 60% had no pesticide residues and only 10% of the remaining sampled contained more than one pesticide residue.
14. Cauliflower: More than 50% of samples had no residues
15. Broccoli: 70% of broccoli samples had no pesticide residues and only one in ten broccoli samples contained more than one pesticide residue.
    

Go Organic & Avoid Pesticide Attack

Pesticide Bias
If you look at the reason behind pesticides attacking certain produce greatly compared to the rest, it is evident that the outer layer of the sweet corn or pineapple acts as a defense mechanism against the attack of these unwanted chemicals compared to the chemical-susceptible strawberry or spinach.

While washing the produce might remain as our No.1 option, the above list was prepared after the produce were washed in high-power pressure water systems that can never be a possibility in our households. If the pesticide ratio and numbers amount to so much after washing produce thoroughly, what are we eating? It’s high time we think upon world-class solutions for this prominent problem as fruits and veggies are an indispensable part of human life. Produce plays a vital role in any balanced diet without which we can’t aim for nourishing our body with the required healthy foods. Read more on eating a balanced diet at www.firsteatright.com.
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Try to buy organic produce as much as possible. Reality is that organic produce is quite expensive and many of us cannot afford it. Otherwise, try growing your essential produce in a small garden. It does not need a huge piece of land. You can use your terrace, grow fresh methi or spinach in container pots, try having your own community garden or come up with similar innovative ideas to grow healthy produce. Also, still wash any produce (despite knowing that pesticide residues do remain) thoroughly to reduce pesticide exposure. Children are of utmost concern here as pesticides might cause chronic health problems like neurological or behavioral development, asthma, birth defects and cancer too in young kids.

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