High Levels of Pesticides Found in 20 Percent of Fruits, Vegetables

THURSDAY, April 18, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Nearly one-fifth of fresh, frozen, and canned fruits and vegetables that Americans eat contain concerning levels of pesticides, posing significant risks from produce such as strawberries, green beans, bell peppers, blueberries, and potatoes, according to a review published by Consumer Reports.

"One food in particular, green beans, had residues of a pesticide that hasn't been allowed to be used on the vegetable in the U.S. for over a decade," the report authors said in a news release. "And imported produce, especially some from Mexico, was particularly likely to carry risky levels of pesticide residues."

Sixty-five of 100 samples of the most contaminated produce were imported, with 52 of those samples originating from Mexico, the review showed. The majority of the highly contaminated produce included strawberries, typically the frozen variety. In addition, nearly all the tested green beans were contaminated with acephate, an insecticide that is considered a "possible human carcinogen." The Environmental Protection Agency prohibited the chemical for use on green beans in 2011.

In response to the report, the Food Industry Association told CNN that "all pesticides go through an extensive review process by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] to ensure they are safe for human consumption and to establish tolerances, the maximum residue limit permitted on or in a food."

And the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is responsible "for monitoring and enforcing EPA's tolerances for pesticides in food, including foods imported into the U.S.," Hilary Thesmar, the association's chief science officer and senior vice president of food and product safety, told CNN.

Not all the news was bad, according to the report, which analyzed seven years of testing data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture on 59 common fruits and vegetables. Pesticide levels were of little concern in nearly two-thirds of the foods included in the review, including nearly all of the organic ones, Consumer Reports said.

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