September 15, 2022 – Many brands of fruit and leather, which are popular for children Snack, has detectable levels of pesticides, according to a new report from the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit organization that aims to improve human health and the environment. Many dried fruit snacks also contain detectable levels of pesticides.
Today’s findings were released in a report, “Fruit skin: an occasional snack full of pesticides and sugar.”
The Environmental Working Group’s bottom line: “Fresh fruit will always be better,” says Sidney Evans, the group’s science analyst and co-author of the report. To reduce exposure to pesticides, dried fruit snacks are better than fruit skins, she says, and organic is better than non-organic or conventional products.
But others criticized the report. “This fear mongering has to stop,” says Theresa Thorne, executive director of the Alliance for Food and Farming, a nonprofit that represents organic and conventional farmers. Fruits and vegetables. It says the levels found are well below standards set as acceptable.
Report details
The Environmental Working Group asked an independent laboratory to test 37 samples of organic and inorganic fruit skins from 10 brands, as well as 30 samples of dried fruit, another common process. Snack, from 16 brands. (Fruit skins are made by drying fruit puree into a glossy paper with a leather-like texture.)
None of the samples tested had above federally defined tolerance levels for the pesticides, says Evans. But the group believes these tolerance levels are too high.
Detectable pesticide levels were found in all 26 samples of inorganic (conventional) fruit skins tested and in half of the inorganic samples of dried fruit, according to the Environmental Working Group, whose funding sources include organic food Comp.
But some of the organic products evaluated also had pesticide levels similar to or higher than those of conventional products. For example, Trader Joe’s organic strawberry fruit wrap contains 247 parts per billion (ppb) of pesticide concentration, while the Bob Snail Apple-Strawberry Stripe, a conventional product, has 106 parts per billion.
One sample of Stretch Island Raspberry Fruit Leather contains 17 pesticides, most of the leather tested. When the researchers looked at the total amount of pesticides, also known as the total pesticide concentration, samples from That It, Stretch Island and Trader Joe’s had the highest total concentration on average.
The most common pesticides were the fungicides pyrimethanil, fludioxonil, and thiabendazole, and the insecticide acetamiprid. Pesticide exposure has been linked to cancer, hormonal disruption, reproductive health and Nervous system Effects and birth defects, among other problems.
“For me, takeaway [that] Evans says fresh fruit will always “be better if given a choice between fruit skins and dried fruit. If that’s not an option, she recommends choosing dried fruit snacks over fruit skins.” An Environmental Working Group assessment of 30 traditionally dried fruit products found CranberriesDates, figs, mangoes and peaches had undetectable levels of pesticides, while the highest levels were found in raisins, dried strawberries, cherries and apples.
Evans says the fruit slices with the highest levels of pesticides often contain apples as the first ingredient. apple no 5 On the 2022 “Dirty Dozen” list, the annual ranking of Fruits and vegetables With most of the pesticides produced by the group.
And the fruit drying process to make fruit skins “greatly increases the concentration of the natural fruit Sugar The snack contains,” says the group, which leads to more Sugar of fresh fruit of similar size. It also recommends avoiding fruit skins and dried fruits with added sugar and additives such as flavor enhancers, food colorings, and corn concentrated syrup.
Federal systems
EPA Kits Tolerance levels pesticide residues on foods. US Department of Agriculture Pesticide Data Program It is a national program for monitoring pesticide residues.
Other points of view
“They found nothing surprising,” says Kaci Buhl, associate professor and director of the Pesticide Safety Education Program at Oregon State University’s Oregon State University, Corvallis, who reviewed the WebMD report.
She also says the findings do not support advice to avoid fruit skins altogether.
“Parents should not worry as long as fruit skins are consumed in moderation as part of a varied and balanced diet,” says Paul. (Organic produce is also grown with pesticides, she notes.)
Others pointed to what they saw as inconsistencies in the calculations. For example, a That It Blueberry Fruit Bar, which is 35 grams (1.2 ounces), was found to have a total pesticide concentration of 3,541 ppb, while the Mini Blueberry Fruit Bar, at 20 grams (0.7 ounces), with Same ingredients, with a total pesticide concentration of 89.
Ball says fruit skins and dried fruit snacks are especially useful when people who live some distance from the food market are out of fresh fruit.
“We need to stop scaring people away from foods they enjoy, especially when they are healthy foods like Fruits and vegetablesThorne says.
on the alliance consumer information website Its pesticide calculator estimates that a child can eat 340 servings per day of apples with no ill effects of pesticides “even if apples had the highest pesticide residues recorded for apples by the US Department of Agriculture.”
WebMD has reached out to the companies for comment. Stretch Island did not respond, which is why it declined to comment on the findings.
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