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Organic Fruit and Organic Vegetables

Which? analysed government tests on samples of fruit and vegetables over the past four years and found persistent problems with pesticide residues in certain produce.

It was found that between a third and nearly half of all fruit and vegetables samples contained detectable pesticide residues and up to 3 per cent of these have levels above the legal limit. The main offenders being Apples, Carrots, Celery, Lettuce, Pears and Strawberries.

The worry is that people are exposed to not only a single chemical but a cocktail of different chemicals as crops are treated with different pesticides. It is not known what effect over the course of a lifetime these pesticides have.

Which? concludes that "The government's pesticide residue monitoring programme shows that, while most fruit and vegetables contain no detectable residues, others consistently contain residues, and some exceed the legal limit. The health impact of regularly eating a cocktail of pesticides over a long period is unknown, so it's wise to minimise your intake of pesticides. But don't do this by cutting back on fruit and veg. Instead wash it thoroughly, scrub root vegetables, discard any outer leaves on leafy crops and don't use peel or zest. If you're preparing fruit and vegetables for small children, or using produce with persistent pesticide problems, as stated above, peeling them is a sensible precaution, where possible. However, washing and peeling will only remove surface residues, not those found in the flesh, so you might want to consider buying organic. The fruit and vegetables highlighted above as having persistent problems should come top of your organic shopping list. For further reports regarding pesticides check out BBC News or Friends of the Earth. The official test results can be found at www.pesticides.gov.uk.

Did you know that buying organic food is growing at a rate in the wake of food scares and concern about genetic modification. Click here to read more.