Revealed: the fruit and veg you should always buy organic
Deciding whether to buy organic food can be a dilemma. Produce grown without the use of pesticides is frequently more expensive than standard versions, and not everyone can afford to buy it all the time. But does shopping for organic food have to be all or nothing?
No, according to campaigning charity Pesticide Action Network(PAN UK), which says it’s possible to shop selectively for organic produce. Some foods are worse for containing pesticide residue than others, depending on the farming method and other factors, so switching to organic for food most affected by chemicals, and sticking with standard versions of the least affected, makes sense if all-organic shopping isn’t possible.
In the UK, the Expert Committee on Pesticide Residues in Food (Prif) regularly tests a wide range of fruit, vegetables, animal products, starchy food and grains for hundreds of different pesticides to check they are within legal and safe limits. Before pesticides are approved they are assessed to ensure they don’t pose an unacceptable risk to human health or the environment, and that any pesticide residues left in food are safe to eat.
But PAN UK’s Nick Mole says little is known about the long terms effects of regularly consuming low doses of pesticide residue. “Around 60 per cent of fruit and vegetables contain pesticide residue,” he says. “Eating an apple isn’t going to kill you of obviously, but it’s the long-term effects of low doses that we don’t know about.“ Foods with traces of more than one pesticide are potentially the biggest concern, says Mole, who suggests anyone considering switching to organic should prioritise these.
The table below shows the best and worst foods for pesticide residues, based on Prif reports from 2013 and 2014. The ‘worst’ list shows the foods most commonly found to contain more than one pesticide residue, while the ‘best’ list shows foods least often found to contain more than one. (The list is not exhaustive because the foods tested by Prif change every year.)
The list might come as a surprise to consumers who believe they are choosing organic produce judiciously. Sainsbury’s reports a strong increase in sales of organic produce, especially fruit, over the past year. “Organic blueberries have seen sales increases of 30 per cent and organic raspberries up 9 per cent.” But according to the 2014 Prif report , apples are more likely to contain traces of multiple pesticide residues (66 per cent of samples tested) than raspberries (35 per cent of samples tested).
Pesticide residues in bread, wheat and flour are also a concern to campaigners, who recommend switching to organic versions where possible. In a report last year into pesticide residues in bread, PAN found that nearly two-thirds of non-organic loaves tested by Prif between 2000 and 2013 were contaminated with at least one residue, including the controversial weed killer glyphosate. The Soil Association has launched a campaign to convince farmers and the government that glyphosate – cited by the World Health Organisation recently as “probably carcinogenic to humans” – should not be sprayed on wheat.
The Soil Association also suggests anyone considering switching to organic food should go for frequently used staples like potatoes, carrots and onions. A spokeswoman added that going organic didn’t need to break the bank. “Many organic store cupboard essentials like organic baked beans, pasta and canned tomatoes, are often a similar price compared to the same non-organic option, “ she said.
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