The most effective way to eliminate lingering pesticide residues on fresh produce involves ingredients found in nearly every American household, according to experts.
Dr Paul Saladino, a well-known advocate for an animal-based diet, highlighted a comprehensive study that found the most sure-fire way to wash off chemicals linked to cancer and neurological harm is not a fancy commercial product, but a simple solution of baking soda and water.
Saladino cited a comprehensive study from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, providing rigorous scientific backing for this claim.
It found that a simple baking soda solution is significantly more effective at removing certain pesticide residues than tap water and the standard commercial Clorox bleach solution used in postharvest processing.
While a two-minute soak in a standard Clorox bleach solution left significant amounts of pesticides on the fruit’s skin, the baking soda solution could eliminate surface residues entirely when given as little as 12 minutes.
The alkaline solution actively degrades certain pesticides, breaking them down into less harmful components.
This chemical degradation works alongside the physical force of washing to lift and remove the chemicals from the fruit’s waxy surface.
Evidence linking pesticide exposure to serious health conditions has grown substantially. Studies consistently link chronic pesticide exposure, including through produce, to cancer, neurological disorders and endocrine disruption.
Everyday ingredients found in most kitchen cabinets—like simple baking soda—do a better job at stripping away pesticide residues than expensive store-bought produce washes (stock)
Saladino told his 416,000 X followers said: ‘Two teaspoons of baking soda per liter of water reduced 99 percent removed 99 percent of the pesticides on the surface of your fruit and vegetables.’
‘It doesn’t get rid of all the pesticides that are inside the fruit, but it was significantly better than you can achieve with vinegar.’
The 2017 review that he referenced, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry by researchers at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, set out to determine which washing method actually works.
They selected two common pesticides with distinctly different mechanisms of action. Thiabendazole, a systemic fungicide designed to penetrate plant tissue, and phosmet, a non-systemic insecticide meant to stay on the surface.
Both were applied to organic Gala apples at a concentration of 125 ng/cm² on the apples’ surfaces. Using high-tech analytical techniques, the team used gold nanoparticles to create visual color-coded images showing exactly where pesticides were located on the apples’ surfaces and how deeply they had penetrated into the peel.
Then they measured the concentrations of the chemicals on and in the apples after washing treatment.
The washing agents tested were tap water, rinsed for two minutes to mimic how people often wash produce in their homes, Clorox Germicidal bleach at the EPA-approved concentration of 25 mg/L available chlorine, applied for two and eight minutes and a 10 mg/mL sodium bicarbonate solution — plain baking soda dissolved in water — applied for varying durations up to 15 minutes.
They found that the baking soda solution significantly outperformed tap water and Clorox bleach.
The graphic shows how well each wash removed phosmet from apples. The peak at 606 cm⁻¹ shows how much pesticide remained after each treatment. Baking soda (NaHCO₃) was the most effective — after 15 minutes, no pesticide residue was detectable
When the apples were washed in the solution for 12 minutes, surface residues of thiabendazole were almost completely eliminated, while phosmet needed 15 minutes of washing to achieve the same result.
On the other hand, a two-minute soak in bleach failed to remove either pesticide effectively and left substantial residues behind.
Saladino advised: ‘There seems to be a trend now of adding vinegar to baking soda to rinse your produce. Don’t do that.
‘That neutralizes these because vinegar is acidic and baking soda is alkaline. You want an alkaline solution to rinse your produce to soak it to deactivate the pesticides.’
The baking soda worked through two mechanisms. The alkaline solution chemically degraded pesticides, breaking down 95 percent of phosmet and 51 percent of thiabendazole.
The study’s most important finding was that washing only addresses pesticides on the surface.
Once those chemicals penetrated the fruit, they could not be washed away.
Researchers injected a 5 µL droplet of a 100 mg/L pesticide solution onto the surface of each apple, creating a localized spot with a concentration of approximately 125 ng/cm².
The graphic shows how well each wash removed thiabendazole from apples. The bars show the intensity of the pesticide’s signature peak at 1010 cm⁻¹—higher bars mean more residue remained. Washing treatments: (a) unwashed control; (b) tap water, 2 min; (c) Clorox bleach, 2 min; (d) baking soda, 2 min; (e) Clorox bleach, 8 min; (f) baking soda, 8 min; (g) baking soda, 12 min; (h) no pesticide (gold nanoparticles only); (i) apple surface alone (no treatment)
After being treated with pesticides, the apples were left to sit for either 30 minutes or 24 hours, allowing the chemicals to naturally penetrate the peel, just as they would between postharvest treatment and the moment a consumer washes the fruit.
By then, 20 percent of the thiabendazole had already penetrated beyond the peel’s waxy cuticle and into the fruit’s living cells. Once there, while the baking soda got rid of the surface chemicals, no amount of washing could remove it. The baking soda solution could not reverse the infiltration of chemicals.
Chemical penetration poses a major risk.
The scientists also reviewed a quarter-century of research and found that people with prolonged or high-intensity pesticide exposure, particularly agricultural workers, face the greatest risk of serious long-term health consequences, including cancer and brain damage.
The dangers are not limited to acute poisoning events. Instead, the chronic, low-dose exposure experienced by consumers through pesticide residues on food represents a significant public health concern, including due to the carcinogenic potential of common pesticides.
Many pesticides are classified as endocrine-disrupting chemicals, capable of interfering with hormone systems even at extremely low concentrations. This disruption can contribute to reproductive dysfunction, metabolic disorders like diabetes, and developmental abnormalities.
A separate large-scale 2025 Agricultural Health Study provides new evidence linking the widely used carbamate insecticide carbaryl to elevated risks of stomach, esophageal, and tongue cancers, as well as aggressive prostate cancer.
Beyond cancer, evidence points to significant neurological and endocrine harms. Chronic pesticide exposure has been consistently linked to neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, with researchers noting that pesticides can disrupt neurotransmitter balance in the brain.
This finding aligned with separate research in Brazil, where women occupationally exposed to pesticides, including glyphosate and atrazine, showed a significantly higher risk of developing aggressive breast cancer with poor prognosis.
Washing apples with a baking soda solution is a powerful way to reduce pesticide exposure on the fruit’s surface, the researchers said.
But for residues that have already penetrated, they noted, peeling is the only surefire option, though that means losing beneficial nutrients found in the peel.
The researchers said: ‘Peeling is more effective to remove the penetrated pesticides; however, bioactive compounds in the peels will become lost too.’
