Washing our apple to remove the pesticides seems very logical, but does it really work?
Pesticides
One rain shower and the farmer can spray his crops again. It sounds unlikely that the farmer actually does that, and it is. Pesticides are not that easy to remove from fruits and vegetables. If pesticides can withstand the elements, a quick wash won’t really help. In addition, the substance can also be found inside fruits and vegetables. Just to make it clear: washing your fresh food makes no difference.
Few pesticides
You must be worried now: there is no point in cleaning your fruit, but the pesticides are still on it. Don’t panic, a few years ago the European Food Safety Authority examined more than 88,000 pieces of fruit and vegetables for the safety of pesticides. What seems? Two-thirds of all areas had no pesticides at all! In most other cases, the quantities involved were small and non-hazardous. They therefore concluded that there was no health risk from the pesticides on fruit and vegetables.
Wash fruit
What does help when you clean your fruit is removing sand and other dirt. Tiny creatures also don’t like the water, just like some bacteria. It is true that non-animal products cause few food poisonings, so there is no reason to panic. Do you not like the idea of pesticides and would you like to consume as few pesticides as possible? Then check whether the food was grown in the European Union. These species contain much less pesticides, and the pesticides that are used are a lot safer than some exotic species.
Fact or fable?
If you wash your fruits and vegetables to get rid of pesticides, it’s a myth. This is (almost) impossible. But if you do this because the piece of fruit just came off the tree or from a bag full of sand and soil, you better wash them. That sand in your mouth is of course not nice. This is something that you can wash off. Just like insects and bacteria, although you will never get rid of all the bacteria if you do not wash the piece of fruit while it is boiling hot. And of course we’re not looking for a piping hot apple. Enjoy your meal!
