Does washing your fruit and veg remove toxic pesticides? Why some experts say rinsing could be ‘useless’…

Everyone has been told to wash their produce- but some experts say it could be futile.

When used extensively in the growing process, pesticides can get inside your fruit and vegetables.

So washing the outside will help clean off dirt, bugs and bacteria, as well as external pesticides, but you’re probably still going to consume them, Marvin Pritts, a professor of horticulture at Cornell University, told NPR.

‘The residues are inside the cells and they’re there to stay,’ Professor Pritts said.

Pesticides are sprayed on produce to prevent animals from eating it, but it has been linked to adverse health effects.

Defeatists might say that this makes washing your fruit and vegetables useless. However, this isn’t strictly true.

First, according to research by Consumer Reports, you can buy foods that are less prone to soaking up pesticides- like avocados, mangoes and carrots.

Second, you can buy from companies that use little or no pesticides on their farm, you’re probably safer. This requires research and money however, and isn’t as simple as just buying anything labelled organic in the store, environmental working senior toxicologist Alexis Temkin told NPR.

Finally, though it might not cancel out all of the pesticides, washing and peeling the outsides of your fruits can help reduce your exposure, Professor Pritts said.

This might bring the hoards of fruit washing influencers online some comfort, like TikTok user Kaeli Mae. Ms Mae made a video showing her routine of using baking soda and vinegar to give her fruit ‘hospital level decontamination’.

This is an understandable reaction as pesticides have been historically linked to thyroid disease, diabetes and kidney disease, according to the NIH.

Most recently, researchers at UCLA have raised alarm bells, connecting these pesticides to an increased risk of developing Parkinson’s for Americans who carry certain genetic mutations.

But is using homemade concoctions, store-bought fruit washes or just plain water best for getting pesky chemicals off of your produce?

Experts say water is good old-fashioned water is the best way to go.

A brief rinse removed nine of the 12 pesticides measured in 2000 study, and follow-up research showed that water was just as effective as removing pesticides as using other cleaning agents, like dish soap.

‘Washing fruits and vegetables not only helps remove dirt, bacteria, and stubborn garden pests, but it also helps remove residual pesticides,’ food science and safety researchers from Colorado State University wrote in collaboration with the USDA.

That’s because using other chemicals isn’t much more effective in cleaning your produce. Also, fruits and vegetables are highly absorbent, and might pick up whatever you washed them with- which could be irritating to your system.

The CDC explicitly recommends against using fruit and vegetable washes, soaps or bleach.

Government agencies, like the CDC, USDA and FDA, have higher threshold for the amount of chemicals they deem as safe as compared to independent agencies like Consumer Reports.

Nonprofit Consumer Reports analyzed seven years of Department of Agriculture data

Pesticides found in up to HALF of children’s apple juice bottles could lead to PARKINSONS, new study suggests

Exposure to a trio of pesticides found in up to half of all bottles of children’s apple juice could increase the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease in those with a genetic vulnerability, a new study suggests.

Experts from UCLA found that Americans who carry 26 genetic mutations could be especially vulnerable to brain damage related to certain chemicals in produce, the DailyMail.com reported.

The best way to get your produce clean begins before you even touch the tap.

To start, you should make sure your hands, and any surfaces that the produce will come into contact with the produce, are clean, according to the CSU researchers.

Also, you should wait to wash your produce until right before you eat it, because washing it and then storing it can cause more bacteria to grow on the surface of the fruit.

After preparing the area, you should run the produce under room temperature water for 10 to 15 seconds.

If it’s a delicate piece of produce, you can use your hands to gently wipe the surface as the water runs over it, or if it’s a more hardy fruit, you can use a vegetable scrubber.

At this stage, if you want to add baking soda or vinegar, this won’t hurt, according to Consumer Reports.

Some studies have found that soaking vegetables in white vinegar for ten to fifteen minutes will reduce the amount of bacteria on the surface of the produce.

Other’s have found that soaking apples in baking soda reduces the amount of pesticides on its surface better than rinsing it with tap water.

But to get more pesticides off the surface, you have to soak the produce for 12 to 15 minutes, consumer reports days.

Soaking softer produce, like berries or asparagus, for baking soda for this long, can cause the skin to break down- so this method is probably best for tougher fruits and veggies.

All told, the time and effort that it takes to introduce these other ingredients might outweigh the small benefits you get from using them, Carissa Galloway, a registered dietitian nutritionist, told CNBC.

The most surefire way to make sure you’re taking in the least amount of pesticides then, Galloway and the FDA recommend, is to buy organic.