10 Dirtiest Fruits/Veggies

[kadee]

Are the fruits and vegetables you buy clean enough to eat?

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) studied 100,000 produce pesticide reports from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to create a list of 49 of the dirtiest and cleanest produce.

So before you hit the grocery store, see how some of your favorite fruits and veggies measured up.

Did one of your favorites make the list? Don't worry, the EWG recommends purchasing organic or locally grown varieties, which can lower pesticide intake by 80% versus conventionally grown produce.

shine.yahoo.com/channel/food/10-dirty-fruits-and-veggies-2451593/

After the thread the other day, thought you might like to see this!

[Mad Dawg Wiccan]

Too bad this study only included pesticides and not bacteria.

[kadee]

patstab, if you think putting porta potties in the fields has done any good....I hate to burst your bubble!
I live out here where they grow lots of veggies in the fields...cabbage, greens, sweet corn, squash, melons, tomatoes, bell peppers, egg plant, strawberries and a few more.
They have put the potties out there but when the workers are 1/2 mi. away from it without means to get there (transportation) they aren't going to run over to it! They also wouldn't want to loose the time it would take to get there & back from their production (picking). Most of the time they get paid by how much they picked. I really don't see any changes happening in that regard! But the farm owners have now satisfied the new laws/regulations by putting the potties out there!

[Mad Dawg Wiccan]

Feb 20, 2011 17:45:37 GMT -5 @patstab said:

What is worse and causes e coli is when the growers are to cheap to furnish toilets and the workers go in the fields. Do you think they wash their hands afterward also??

Imagine maybe 50 workers, urinating and defecating inthe fields while working.

Some countries allow human waste from sewage treatment plants to be used as fertilizer. Bad idea. Also, e coli is often carried in steer manure, a common "organic" fertilizer.

[Apple]

Piles of human waste were often seen on the small orchard I helped swamp in high school. It was disgusting, but k66 is right, they don't want to run to the bathroom because it takes time--they're paid by the bucket.

[thyme4change]

I doubt that human defecation is a new problem to farming. I doubt that at any point in history field workers went elsewhere to go to the bathroom and then used an anti-bacterial soap and running water to scrub up before returning to the fields.

[kadee]

Some countries allow human waste from sewage treatment plants to be used as fertilizer. Bad idea. Also, e coli is often carried in steer manure, a common "organic" fertilizer.

MOST, and I didn't say all, "organic" fertilizer is composted! MOST will get hot enough to destroy any germs from MOST diseases.

You're right thyme. It has been going on since the beginning of planted crops!
I have not looked this up so I am not sure, but I believe there are several countries that use composted human excrements for fertilizers.

[Mad Dawg Wiccan]

I really don't see workers pooping in the field as a major health risk to the public. To be so, the contaminant has to be wide spread across the crop. I do know of two instances where this has happened, but I don't remember what the crops were. One was produce from Mexico, where the fields had been fertilized with untreated human sewage. The other was here in the Central Valley, where heavy rain caused runoff from a nearby cattle farm to contaminate some crops.

My only point was I wish the study had included "dirty" foods you are more likely to get bacterial contamination from as well as pesticides.

[kadee]

mad...which is a GOOD reason to use a veggie wash to clean your veggies to get rid of as much as possible of either kind of contamination!