Pesticides: can you scrub them off?

Dear chocchip2000
Some pesticides stay mainly on the surface of plants when they are sprayed. These are often called protective pesticides, because they sit on the skin of the crop waiting for the fungal spore to settle on it. They then kill the pest before it has had a chance to start eating away at the plant. If there are residues of these compounds on the crop you will be able to remove a fair proportion by washing the fruit and veg, and most - but not all - of them by peeling.

Others are designed to be taken up into the plant tissues and then kill the pathogen/pest as it starts eating away into the crop tissues. Washing and peeling will not significantly reduce residues of these systemic pesticides.

I would like to stress that current pesticide regulations ensure that residues of pesticides (including systemic pesticides) are extremely low and, in many cases, below the detection limit by the time produce is harvested.

However, as an organic consumer I am prepared to pay a little more for organic fruit, vegetables and salads, which have not been treated with synthetic pesticides in the first place.

Organic farmers are, under no circumstances, allowed to use pesticides to control weeds. Instead, they use rotations, mechanical and physical methods (e.g. flame weeding) for weed control and this is usually very successful. If all else fails organic farmers resort to weeding by hand.

Any organic farmer caught using a pesticide for weed control will lose their licence.

Learn more with our top 9 questions about organic food.

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