Inventory of misunderstandings about pesticide residues

It is said that eating fruits and vegetables is good for health
.
However, many people are always worried about pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables.
In order to be able to eat fruits and vegetables with confidence, many people also hope that if all fruits and vegetables are put on the market, they can be tested to see if the pesticide residues exceed the standard
.

 

However, do you have some misunderstandings about pesticide residues?

 

Misunderstanding 1: The detection of pesticide residues must be harmful to health
.

 

I often see reports in the news media that a certain food has been detected with pesticide residues.
When I see such news, many people are very worried: Can I still eat fruit with peace of mind?

 

In fact, “detection of pesticide residues” does not necessarily mean that the food you eat will “endanger your health”
.
Whether pesticide residues will affect your health depends on how much
.
Any pesticide needs to reach a certain amount to cause harm to the human body.
This amount should be formulated by risk assessment and regulated by relevant standards
.
Moreover, in the process of formulating this safety level, the assessment of the toxicity of pesticides is generally carried out on animals.
Taking into account the differences between humans and animals and the differences between humans, it is usually divided by a factor of 100 times as a human According to the maximum amount of food that people can eat every day, the “safe upper limit” is established
.
Therefore, the detection of pesticide residues in food does not necessarily have an impact on human health.
The key is to see how much pesticide residues there are.
As long as it does not exceed its "safety line", it can be considered that there is no health risk
.

 

Misunderstanding 2: The more types of pesticide residues detected, the greater the harm
.

 

We will also see news reports that more than a dozen pesticide residues have been detected in a certain food.
Many people think that the more types of pesticide residues in the food, the greater the harm
.

 

In fact, "how many kinds of pesticides" and "harmful doses" are two different things
.
In the final analysis, the safety of pesticide residues in food depends on how much you use and how much you eat, and it is not necessarily related to the number of varieties used
.

 

In the process of food cultivation, people will use different pesticides for different pests or diseases, and different pesticides generally have different mechanisms of action
.
However, to evaluate the safety of each pesticide, it depends on the amount of its residue in the final analysis
.
Even if the effects of similar pesticides accumulate, it is still judged whether they are harmful according to their "residue amount" rather than "how many kinds"
.
As long as the residual amount of each is lower than the national standard, the harm of these pesticide residues can be ignored; however, if the pesticide residue exceeds the standard, even if there is only one kind, the food is still a substandard product
.

Misunderstanding 3: The higher the inhibition rate of pesticide residue detection, the higher the unqualified rate and the stronger the toxicity
.

 

According to media reports, "the inhibition rate of pesticide residues is as high as 99%", and "the higher the inhibition rate, the higher the failure rate and the stronger the toxicity
.
"

 

In fact, there is no direct relationship between the inhibition rate and the toxicity of pesticide residues and the unqualified rate of products
.
According to national regulations and industry standards, the detection methods and allowable standards for each pesticide residue may be different
.
The pesticide residue inhibition rate method is actually a pesticide residue detection method.
It can detect the presence of certain pesticides under certain conditions.
However, it cannot detect all pesticide residues
.

 

Moreover, the result detected by the suppression method is only a preliminary result, which is usually used to determine whether it is necessary to perform instrumental analysis on the pesticide residues in the sample
.
The inhibition rate and the toxicity of pesticide residues are not necessarily related at all
.
In fact, people found in daily tests that the pesticide residue content in a vegetable with an inhibition rate of 90% may be lower than that of lettuce with an inhibition rate of 70%
.
Similarly, the inhibition rate is not equal to the unqualified rate.
The inhibition rate is only a preliminary result, not a basis for judging whether the product is qualified.
Whether the product is qualified or not requires detailed instrument analysis data to confirm
.

 

Misunderstanding 4: The pesticide residue of one kind of food exceeds the standard, and the pesticide residue of all foods exceeds the standard
.

 

In recent years, there have been more and more reports of food inspections sent by the media.
I often see a report saying that several samples submitted for inspection have found that certain pesticide residues exceed the standard
.
Many people are very worried when they see it, and they think that the pesticide residues in our food are all over the standard
.

 

In fact, this is a complete generalization
.
Food sampling is a scientific matter, and the results of sampling of one or several foods alone cannot reflect the pesticide residue levels of all foods
.
Some media or organizations have spent tens of thousands of dollars and tested several or dozens of samples, and concluded that all foods on the market have excessive pesticide residues.
Such results are not statistically significant, and consumers are not at all statistically significant.
Don't worry too much
.
Just like you like mathematics, you can't think that all your classmates like mathematics, right? For example, a certain media reported that the pesticide acetochlor in the samples had exceeded the standard when submitted for inspection of Beijing strawberries, but only 8 samples were tested.
Anyone who has done sample analysis knows that such results are not statistically representative.
It does not reflect the situation of all strawberries
.
Even without considering whether the sampling process and testing methods are reasonable, these 8 samples can't actually reflect the pesticide residue status of strawberries in Beijing or the whole country.
Consumers should not think that the strawberries they eat must also exceed the pesticide residue standards
.
In fact, the Beijing Municipal Food Safety Commission later found out that no acetochlor was detected in the samples submitted for inspection during a full-scale random inspection conducted in Beijing
.

 

Misunderstanding 5: Rapid detection of pesticide residues must be harmful
.

 

In recent years, various rapid pesticide residue detection methods have also become popular.
Many people use a small test paper to find out whether there are pesticide residues and whether there are too many pesticide residues in a simple test
.
Many people see such tests, as long as the test paper changes color, they think that there are pesticide residues, and they are worried about their health
.
Many media reports also extensively use the results of rapid tests to imply that pesticides have exceeded the standard, which is also very unscientific
.

 

In fact, the quick inspection result is only a reference, and it does not mean that "there must be pesticides
.
" Rapid detection as a screening method is very thick and must be based on instrumental methods
.
Even if the quick test result is positive, it cannot be used as a basis for judging unqualified
.
Quick inspection is usually only used as a daily management method.
Due to the current limited detection level and the environment where the fruits and vegetables belong, the probability of false positives and false negatives is high
.
In the relevant national standards, quick inspection has not been recognized as a basis for law enforcement or the use of authoritative data
.
If there is a positive result, you should use the instrument to do a quantitative test to see if it is a pesticide residue, what kind of pesticide, how much, and whether it exceeds the standard
.
This is like finding pregnancy on a home pregnancy test strip, and you still need to go to the hospital for a formal test to know if you are pregnant
.

 

Misunderstanding 6: Safe food is detected
.

 

Many people worry about pesticide residues in food, thinking that pesticide residue testing is very simple.
The government should test all foods in enterprises, farms and other places one by one, thinking that only tested food is safe, and safe food should be tested.
Come out
.

 

In fact, safe food is produced, not by supervision or detection
.
In fact, there are many types of pesticides, there are thousands of them, and the detection methods of each pesticide will be different, and the detection methods are generally not very simple, requiring a lot of manpower and material resources to conduct the detection
.
If you really test every food you eat before selling it to you, you won't want to pay for its price
.
At present, the cost of sampling and testing from the central to the local level in our country is about five to six billion yuan a year, but the output is very small, which is really thankless
.
Therefore, this model is really not feasible
.
Just like this, scientists believe that the supervision model based on sampling and inspection will not achieve the purpose and cost.
We should establish a food safety supervision model based on process supervision.
From farmland to table, every link is supervised and controlled.
Restrictions to ensure food safety
.

Do we need to worry about pesticide residues in our diet?

 

I counted so many misunderstandings about pesticide residues
.
Many people may still be worried
.
In fact, research conducted in China has evaluated the level of dietary pesticide residues in Chinese residents, and found that the pesticide residues in most fruits and vegetables in China have not exceeded the standard.
Moreover, the survey also found that the abuse of some pesticides in China has been obvious.
Improvement, such as organophosphorus pesticides
.
Generally speaking, the pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables in our country are not high
.

 

Most fruits and vegetables are delicious, and eating more vegetables and fruits is good for your health.
You don't have to reject fruits and vegetables completely because of the risk of pesticide residues
.
Simple treatments such as washing and peeling fruits and vegetables can also help remove some pesticide residues when eating fruits and vegetables
.
In addition, the issue of pesticide residues has received more and more attention from the government
.
The new food safety law also clearly strengthens the management of highly toxic pesticides and gradually no longer uses them.
It is believed that the problem of pesticide residues will be further improved
.