Watch what you eat!
We all know that fruits and vegetables are a crucial part of a healthy, balanced diet. In fact, the CDC recommends that adults consume 1.5-2 cups of fruit and 2-3 cups of vegetables daily! What if the very foods we should be eating could actually be harmful due to modern farming practices? There is a growing concern over the amount of pesticides and herbicides that our produce is exposed to in America. The team at Nadrich & Cohen Accident Injury Lawyers has created this impressive visualization using the FDA’s annual Pesticide Residue Monitoring Report to showcase the foods with the most (and least) exposure to herbicides and pesticides:
Of the 2,078 domestic human food samples tested, 76.7% of fruits, 59.9% of vegetables, 52.6% of grain products, and 25% of other products were found to have herbicide or pesticide residues on them. The number of imported foods that tested positive for herbicides and pesticides were slightly less – 62.5% of fruits, 54.3% of vegetables, 45.9% of grain products, and 21.5% of other products. This may seem extremely alarming, however, 96.8% of domestic and 88.4% of imported foods were found to be compliant with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s safety standards. Is that a trustworthy metric? That’s for you to decide! How can you avoid pesticides and herbicides on your foods? Be sure to wash your produce under running water as it has an abrasive effect that soaking does not. Peeling fruits and vegetables when possible can also help reduce dirt, bacteria, and chemicals. Selecting a variety of foods from a variety of sources can both provide you a better mix of nutrients as well as reduce your continued exposure to a single pesticide or herbicide.
Leave a Reply