Do you know how many pesticide residues are on the fruit?

Rumor: According to the U.
S.
Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration, as many as 5,100 cleaning and peeling tests were conducted from 2000 to 2009, and some specific data were obtained
.
For example, after cleaning an apple, the pesticide residue ratio reached 97.
8%
.
Truth: Obviously, this is news based on foreign reports
.
We don't know which source of information the rumors use, but it is not difficult to find a lot of original relevant information on the pesticide residues in apples and fruits and vegetables
.
Are the pesticide residue data reliable? The United States Department of Agriculture (usda) has a pesticide data project to detect pesticide residues in vegetables and fruits every year, which began in 1991
.
The number of samples tested by this project each year has increased from more than 7,000 at the beginning to more than 10,000 in 2000, and it has been increasing year by year
.
The purpose of pdp testing for pesticide residues is to assess the amount of pesticides consumed in American diets, not to determine whether the food is qualified
.
Whether the presence of pesticide residues can be detected is closely related to the detection technology
.
Detecting residues does not mean that these foods are harmful to health
.
The "pesticide hazards" listed in the rumors do exist, but it is completely meaningless to talk about the hazards without the dosage
.
What we need to pay attention to is: How much risk does pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables bring? In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (epa) sets limits for the residues of various pesticides in food
.
According to the definition of the limit, the health risks caused by pesticide residues that do not exceed this standard can be ignored
.
If the detection value of the pdp exceeds the limit standard, or if a pesticide for which the epa has not established a standard is detected, the pdp will be notified to the Food and Drug Administration (fda)
.
Those pesticides for which epa does not specify a limit standard are generally not brought in for use in the production of vegetables and fruits, but drifted from the air or water
.
From 1993 to 2003, a total of 102058 samples were tested, of which 58950 samples were tested for pesticide residues, accounting for about 58% of the samples tested.

.
Among them, 158 copies exceeded the limit standards established by epa, and 2533 copies were not established by epa, accounting for 0.
15% and 2.
5% respectively
.
The data of the misquoted pdp data was released two years later
.
According to the pdp announcement, the proportion of samples exceeding the epa limit standard is 0.
3%, and the proportion of samples that detect pesticide residues that have not been set by epa is 2.
7%, which is almost the same as in previous years
.
The detection of pdp is to process the collected samples in the usual way for consumers, such as washing with cold water for 10 seconds, peeling, etc.
, and then breaking the samples for subsequent testing
.
Because there is no detection of pesticide residues before treatment, it is impossible to arrive at the figure of "residual ratio of pesticides after cleaning an apple
.
" The so-called "how many kinds of pesticide residues are contained in apples" is not so many kinds of pesticides in one apple, but the total number of pesticides detected in all samples
.
For example, if two pesticides a and b are detected in one sample, and b and c are detected in another sample, then "3" pesticide residues are detected
.
As long as the presence of a pesticide residue is detected in a sample, regardless of its content, it is considered "detected"
.
Indeed, a high percentage of apples have detected at least one pesticide residue.
The data from 1993 to 2003 was 93%, while the data from 2009 was close to 98%
.
The rumor should be that this ratio is understood as the residue ratio after cleaning, so it came to the conclusion that “after cleaning an apple, the pesticide residue ratio reached 97.
8%”
.
The pesticide residue is so high, can you still eat it? Corresponding to this report, there is also a ranking of "12 dirtiest fruits and vegetables" and "15 cleanest fruits and vegetables"
.
This ranking is based on data from pdp by an environmental organization called ewg (environmentalworkinggroup)
.
ewg is neither a government management department nor an authoritative academic institution, but a non-governmental organization advocating environmental protection.

.
As mentioned earlier, being able to detect pesticide residues does not mean that there is a health risk
.
Ewg's ranking completely ignores this factor, but uses a simple classification such as "have", "no" or "more" and "less", which cannot objectively reflect the true situation of the relationship between pesticide residues and health in these fruits and vegetables
.
A ranking of "the 12 dirtiest fruits and vegetables" would suggest that consumers stay away from these fruits and vegetables, which is not the purpose of ewg
.
On their website, they clarified through "faq"
.
For example, question 3 is "Do these pesticides mean that I shouldn't eat vegetables and fruits?" The website's answer is: "No, eat your vegetables and fruits
.
The health benefits of recipes rich in vegetables and fruits exceed the intake of pesticide residues.
The risk
.
" The US media generally talked about this issue when reporting this incident
.
This report on pesticide residues is the result of selective excerpts from foreign news and misunderstandings and brain supplements
.
Pesticide residues can be detected in apples and other fruits and vegetables, but the residues in most samples are below the limit standard established by epa
.
The health benefits of diets rich in vegetables and fruits outweigh the risks of pesticide intake
.
Academia and government management still recommend diversified recipes rich in vegetables and fruits
.