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Pesticides on fruits and vegetables
Fruits and vegetables - pesticide risks
Information
To help protect yourself and your family from pesticides on fruits and vegetables:
Pesticides
Pesticides are pest-killing substances that help protect plants against molds, fungi, rodents, noxious weeds, and insects. Pesticides help prevent cr...
- Wash your hands with soap and water before you start preparing food.
- Discard the outer leaves of leafy vegetables such as lettuce. Rinse and eat the inner part.
- Rinse produce with cool water for at least 30 seconds.
- You can buy a produce wash product. Do not wash foods with dish soaps or detergents. These products can leave behind inedible residues.
- Do not wash produce marked "ready to eat" or "pre-washed".
- Wash produce even if you do not eat the peels (such as citrus). Otherwise, chemicals or bacteria from the outside of the produce can get to the inside when you cut/peel it.
- After washing, pat produce dry with a clean towel.
- Wash produce when you are ready to use it. Washing before storing can degrade the quality of most fruits and vegetables.
- As an option, you may want to buy and serve organic produce. Organic growers use approved organic pesticides. You may want to consider it for thin-skinned items such as peaches, grapes, strawberries, and nectarines.
To remove harmful bacteria, you must wash both organic and nonorganic fruits and vegetables.
References
US Food and Drug Administration. Food facts: raw produce. Updated November 2015. www.fda.gov/downloads/Food/FoodborneIllnessContaminants/UCM174142.pdf . Accessed March 8, 2016.
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Pesticides and fruit - illustration
To protect your family from pesticides remove the outer leaves of leafy vegetables. Peel hard-skinned produce, or rinse it with lots of warm water mixed with salt and lemon juice or vinegar.
Pesticides and fruit
illustration
Review Date: 1/31/2016
Reviewed By: Emily Wax, RD, The Brooklyn Hospital Center, Brooklyn, NY. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Isla Ogilvie, PhD, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team.
