Working on the assumption that eating food with a lot of pesticide in it and on it is a bad idea, this new analysis of pesticides levels on fruit and vegetables from Consumer Reports is very helpful, especially when looking at strengthening your supply chain program.
Local peaches. Nom. Sadly not that great for pesticides. Image by Cathy Davies
Consumer Reports took the last 5 years of data to assess which fruit and vegetables were high in pesticides and in their analysis they looked at the risk of chronic exposure to pesticides. The data is divided into non Organic and Organic grown and further divided into Domestic and Imported.
The ratings (poor, fair, good, very good and excellent) are straight forward at first to understand as Excellent is lowest in pesticides and Poor is worst. However, how they determined these ratings are a bit hard to follow as they are based on how much a child could eat to avoid exposure:
The ratings reflect the number of servings of a particular fruit or vegetable a person can eat per day over a lifetime before the pesticides pose potential harm. We based our risk analysis on the levels that could harm a 35-pound child, about the size of a 4-year-old. The serving sizes represent a child’s portion, about two-thirds of an adult serving. While adults may have more servings, the relative risk remains the same; that is, an item rated Poor carries a higher risk than one rated Fair or better. The risk comes from chronic exposure. Choosing produce with the best ratings most of the time can reduce the chance of future harm. CR 2020
Unsurprisingly Organically grown domestic fruit and vegetables, when available, are either Excellent or Very Good, which means that if a 35-lb child can eat a ten or three or more servings per day before chronic pesticide exposure.
This is an important first step because eating fresh produce is a critical part of a healthy diet. A diet that might not be so healthy if the produce is loaded with pesticides.
It is also useful information for food manufacturers as they can use this knowledge to pressure farmers and distributors to reduce the pesticide load of their ingredients. If you are interested in knowing more about how to strengthen your supply chain program with the research from Consumer Reports, book a free food safety chat today.