Episode 73: What You Need to Know About Pesticides in Our Food

Episode 73: What You Need to Know About Pesticides in Our Food

Welcome back to The Easy Feed. In this episode, I’m unpacking an issue that has sparked plenty of concern—pesticide residues in fruit and vegetables, and what that means for our children’s nutrition.

This conversation follows my recent appearance on Sunrise Channel 7, where we explored the latest findings on blueberries and pesticide testing. The research revealed banned chemicals showing up in local samples and raised questions about outdated safety guidelines.

As a paediatric dietitian, my focus is always on keeping food both safe and nourishing. Fruit and vegetables are essential for children’s health, so we need practical, evidence-based steps to reduce risks while ensuring our kids still enjoy plenty of nutritious foods.

In this episode, I’ll share what the science says, how regulators are responding, and most importantly, what you can do at home right now.

Links:
https://nourishwithkarina.com/feedingbabies
https://nourishwithkarina.com/membership

Highlights:

Pesticides in Our Food: What Every Parent Needs to Know (00:00.078)
Toxic Truths: Hidden Pesticides in Our Everyday Foods (02:11.21)
Are Our Fruits Safe? The Shocking Findings Behind Australia’s Pesticide Review (04:28.162)
Are We Eating Hidden Chemicals? How to Wash Away Pesticides Safely (06:45.998)
Hidden Sprays: What You Need to Know About Pesticides in Everyday Foods (09:07.66)
Pesticides on Our Plates: Are Our Fruits Really Safe? (11:16.726)
Pesticides on Our Plates: How to Keep Your Family Safe Without Fear (13:36.884)
Pesticides, Produce & Peace of Mind: Simple Steps to Reduce Risk at Home (16:02.742)
Are Our Fruits Safe? What Parents Need to Know About Pesticides (18:27.352)
Outro (20:46.466)

Show notes

READ TRANSCRIPT

Show Notes

Explore my Healthy Recipes for Kids: https://nourishwithkarina.com/healthy-recipes-for-kids

More nutrition tips and resources available at Nourish with Karina

Pesticides in Our Food: What Every Parent Needs to Know (00:00.078)
You're listening to the Easy Feed Podcast, episode number 73, what you need to know about pesticides in our food. Hi there, I'm Karina Savage and with over 20 years experience feeding children, including my own, I've learnt all the secrets that busy mums need to get their children eating better and actually enjoying healthy foods. So a huge welcome to the Easy Feed Podcast.

Welcome back. It's great to have you. I hope that you're well and ready for another episode of the Easy Feed. Today's segment is really inspired by the episode that we did, or I should say the segment that we did on Sunrise Channel 7 earlier this week, where we talked about pesticides in our food, in our fruit and vegetables, because that's where they're used, and really discussed the latest...

guidelines around what we should be doing in terms of washing and cleaning off these residues off our fruit and veg because let's be honest, no one wants to be eating chemicals that are potentially harmful for us. So it's important that we know what the best approach is, especially for our kids, because our kids are more at risk here. And so we need to make sure that we are.

keeping them safe. And look, this really all came about because there was a professor from a university in Northern New South Wales that was testing blueberries because Northern New South Wales is a big blueberry growing area and they do have lots of blueberry farms up there. And for whatever reason, she's wanting to investigate blueberries. Maybe she sees what's sprayed on them.

maybe there's inside knowledge up there because that's where a lot of the blueberry crops are. So she tested a whole lot of different blueberry samples and they looked for 157 different pesticides. Now what pesticides are are chemical sprays that are sprayed on fruits and vegetables. Pesticides are part of the insecticide family. Basically they're designed to kill insects through destroying

Toxic Truths: Hidden Pesticides in Our Everyday Foods (02:11.21)
neural pathways for the insects. So it basically kills it that way. So they're really neurotoxic and that's the way that they get rid of the insects on the crops. But of course where they're needing that food, right? And so I guess that's where the concern is because when she tested those samples of blueberries, she found numerous pesticides that were either banned or in levels that were a concern. So the main one that she found that was banned was

And forgive me if I spelled this wrong, but it's thiametan or thiometan, nah, I reckon it's thiametan. Anyway, it's a pesticide banned in Australia since 2001. And she said she found it in several samples, including an organic sample, which later was discussed as potentially being caused by that organic blueberry crop being grown too close with not enough of a buffer zone to other.

blueberry crops that do use conventional pesticides. So that's a potential risk there and why there might be contamination in an organic sample. But what was more concerning was that in numerous samples, a pesticide which is still legally used in Australia, banned in other countries, but legally used in Australia, it's called dimethylate. It's a neurotoxic pesticide that

was found in some blueberry samples at levels that a small child just eating a handful might exceed the acceptable daily intake. And that's the concern. And that's where the news and the media have gone crazy because it's a potential risk for our children. You see, berry consumption has gone up significantly in the past 20 to 30 years. When consumption was formally surveyed in 1995,

And then recently done last year, showed that consumption has increased almost tenfold. And the problem is that if we are using a threshold of safe exposure based on a consumption that is 20 to 30 years old, and we're eating 10 times that amount, then our exposure may be potentially a risky exposure. And that's why

Are Our Fruits Safe? The Shocking Findings Behind Australia’s Pesticide Review (04:28.162)
There is now a big investigation going on and a review of the guidelines and regulations about dimethyl-8 and its use on blueberry crops. So they really are going to be checking safety margins and it's the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority that has announced the review. So really the buck stops with them, but they work in conjunction with our food standards, Australia and New Zealand.

to keep Australians safe. And I think it's a really good reminder about food that watch this space at the moment. I think the review will happen in the next month or two. But in the meantime, I think it's a really good reminder to focus on how we are handling our fruits and vegetables at home. Because you hear all the time, well, not all the time, but you know, it goes through crazes and then, you know, quietens down about the dirty dozen and the clean 15. And look, this is an American based list.

But it's certainly something to be mindful of because you are being exposed to pesticide residues when we're eating fresh fruit and vegetables. So we need to be mindful about washing our fruit and vegetables. And it's not only pesticide residue that's on fruits and vegetables. There's bacteria, there's viruses, there's dirt. And whilst dirt's probably not as much of a risk, the bacteria and viruses are, which is why we really need to be washing our fruits and vegetables because the food gets picked at the farm.

And then it goes through multiple chains of processing, multiple people touching the food right down to the person who puts it out on the display in the supermarket or perhaps picks it up and puts it in the bag for your home delivery. And who knows what's on their hands. And so not only are we washing off pesticide residue when we wash fruit and veg, but we're also washing off bacteria and viruses, which is important. It's important to reduce these, especially for our children.

that have developing immune systems. Now, something that we talked about on Channel 7 the other day was, well, how do we get rid of these pesticide residues? So they've looked at the removal of pesticide residue by washing fruit and vegetables under running water. And they've also compared to soaking it in a vinegar solution or a bicarb solution. Now, they've actually studied the bicarb solution with apples.

Are We Eating Hidden Chemicals? How to Wash Away Pesticides Safely (06:45.998)
And they soaked the apples in a 1 % bicarb solution. So I think this works out to be about a teaspoon per cup, half to a teaspoon per cup. And they soaked the apples for 12 to 15 minutes in the bicarb solution. And they did find that there was a higher removal of two common pesticides, but then they also compared it to washing it under running water for a couple of minutes. I think it was actually five minutes, which is a long time.

And they found that washing it under running water also significantly reduced the residue on the fruit. look, whatever's going to work best for you. think practically speaking, as long as you are washing it well under running water for as long as you can hold that fruit or vegetable under the running water, that's definitely the goal. But if you can soak things in biocarb solution for 12 to 15 minutes, it will help remove the surface residues.

What it's not going to do is it's not going to remove the residue that has soaked into the peel or the flesh of the fruit because it can do that too. The soaking works best with firm fruit like apples with delicate berries, long soaks in it could cause softening or breakdown of the fruit. So it's a bit more tricky with berries. So what I do with berries is I just run them under running water for as long as possible.

I'll actually just leave them in the tub and sit them in the sink and have the running water running over them for a couple of minutes. And if I can stand there and know, jiggle the tub and run them under water for as long as possible, I will. But that's really what I do because I think it's really important, especially with strawberries and blueberries and raspberries, but raspberries I find a more fragile. So definitely with strawberries and blueberries, I run them under water for as long as possible. And then I pop them on paper towel.

So generally the fruit with a thinner, more delicate skin is more at risk of being damaged by insects. So pesticides are typically used more on those crops. So things like strawberries and blueberries and apples, pears, stone fruits, such as nectarines, peaches, cherries. These are all in what we call the dirty dozen or what I should say in America is called the dirty dozen.

Hidden Sprays: What You Need to Know About Pesticides in Everyday Foods (09:07.66)
And then in the vegetable world, you've got leafy green vegetables and those vegetables, which have a lot of curvature in the leaf, because apparently that's where some of the pesticides get trapped as well. So things like kale is a high risk. Maybe spinach, celery is another one and grapes are up there as well. Another one to be mindful is potatoes because they are actually cleaned with some chemicals, but then often sprayed afterwards.

to prolong their shelf life in the supermarket. And so that you wouldn't necessarily think to look at a potato that you had to wash it, but you do, you need to wash the potato as well. And I'm actually leaning towards perhaps buying the dirtier potatoes where you have to scrub them. mean, yes, it is more laborious.

But I'm thinking that's probably going to be a better option. I yeah, there's dirt on it, but when you're scrubbing off the dirt, then you're removing all of the dirt and the viruses and the bacteria. And I don't know if they're sprayed like the clean ones are. You know, the thing is you just don't know. You have no idea when you're picking up that apple or that potato, what's been sprayed on it at what stage of that vegetable or fruits life. So it's.

such a line field and we are completely in the dark and we are completely at the mercy of our national authorities that decide what is safe to put on our food, what is safe to spray on our food, what levels are safe for us to consume and that scares the heck out of me because it sounds like at the moment we do need tighter regulations in some areas. Having said that, I did find a recent review that found that 97 to 99 % of

All the fruits and veg tested did meet the strict regulations and were below the safety limits for Australian consumption. So basically that's saying that they all passed the test and they all contained residue levels that were well below the upper safety limit, meaning we are completely safe to continue eating them. But it does create doubt in your mind when this kind of result comes out about the blueberries.

Pesticides on Our Plates: Are Our Fruits Really Safe? (11:16.726)
And also the fact that consumption data is outdated and the safe upper limits are potentially therefore outdated based on the fact that we're eating 10 times more blueberries than we used to be. What also isn't known or where there are potentially gaps in keeping us safe is the fact that most regulation evaluates one chemical in one food at a time and deeming it a safe level for us to consume.

But in real life, people consume multiple foods at one time and in one day. And therefore they're having exposure to multiple residues from multiple foods. And the cumulative effect or the additional effect of all of these pesticide residues is less well studied or regulated. And that's a real issue and that's a gap. And they really need to be factoring that in because of course we're not just going to eat blueberries in the day. We're going to eat.

blueberries, we're going to potentially eat spinach. We're probably in our smoothie, port blueberries and spinach and you know, stone fruit or other fruits or vegetables that will have pesticides on them. Look at our safety with intake that is in isolation from other foods. So really what they need to be doing in my mind is writing out a typical daily intake for a child or for a teenager or for an adult, and then adding up all the potential

pesticide residue exposure of all of those foods, and then working out whether that is a safe daily intake for that child or that teenager or that adult. And that's when we'll know whether they're consuming pesticide residue that is over and above what is deemed safe. To be honest with you though, is any of it safe? Like I just can't wrap my head around the fact that they say that something that destroys

The nervous system, the neurological system of insects, so it's neurotoxic to insects, how it's safe for us to consume at all. I just don't get it. Like it just doesn't make sense to me. So whilst yes, we have to put our faith or most of us, I don't know. I'm not going to tell you what to do here because it's really personal judgment.

Pesticides on Our Plates: How to Keep Your Family Safe Without Fear (13:36.884)
Some people will choose to spend their money on organic foods in the hope that there is less exposure to pesticides and residue. And yes, organic farming does use sprays, but it's a different type of sprays. It's much more natural and organic and it's not these chemical neurotoxic pesticides that are in conventional farming practices. I'm really torn here because I want to say that yes, eating fruits and vegetables

far outweighs the risk, but at the same time, we need to be really mindful about how we are handling our fruits and vegetables. So we are reducing our exposure to pesticides and residues, especially in those fruits and vegetables that have higher pesticide exposure or higher use in those crops. And they are the berries, the stone fruits, apples, pears, leafy green veggies, and they are the ones that

You definitely need to be washing really thoroughly. Fruits and vegetables provide so much nutrition for us. Antioxidants, fibre, otherwise known as prebiotics for our gut health, like they are so important for us. Phytochemicals, so the plant's natural defence mechanism against insects and sickness. The phytochemicals, when we eat the plants, the fruits and vegetables, we benefit from those as well.

There's polyphenols, antioxidants, there's so many good things about eating fruits and vegetables. So we really need to remember that that is the priority here is to give our kids lots of fresh fruit and vegetables. And yes, try and get them to eat more broccoli and more of those, you know, plant foods that are all different colors. I mean, you've heard the eat the colors around the rainbow. And, know, I don't ever say that really to people because I feel like it just makes you feel guilty when your child isn't.

Or I say, look across fruits and vegetables, maybe you try to for the colours of the rainbow, but you know, if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen and that's okay. They'll get there eventually. But I don't want you to be listening to this episode thinking, my gosh, I need to reduce my children's intake of fruit and vegetables because absolutely not. We really need our children to have lots of plant foods is benefiting them so much, but we need to be handling it.
Pesticides, Produce & Peace of Mind: Simple Steps to Reduce Risk at Home (16:02.742)
with care and with intention. So with those higher risk foods that I've said, make sure you're washing them well or soaking them. Okay. So what are the lower residue fruits and vegetables in Australia? Because they are the ones that we need to worry less about. I mean, it's still important to be mindful of washing bacteria and viruses off these fruits and vegetables, but in terms of residue use and residue exposure to us and our children.

These fruits and vegetables typically are lower residue fruit and vegetables based on the National Residue Survey. They're typically fruits and vegetables with thicker skins or peels or outer leaves that aren't eaten, that are removed prior to us eating. So say for example, onion or garlic. They're also crops that naturally need fewer sprays because they are naturally less likely to be damaged by insects. So they're more

robust, you would say, to insect damage. So lower residue fruits include avocados, bananas, pineapples, mangoes and papaya, citrus, so things like oranges, mandarins, lemons, limes, grapefruit, kiwifruit and melons, melon, watermelon, honeydew. Now, with all of these thicker skinned fruits, you typically peel them or cut the skin off and then eat the flesh. And that is why...

They fit in that lower residue fruit category. Lower residue vegetables include onion and garlic, cabbage where the outer leaves are discarded, sweet corn because the husk protects the kernels, asparagus, which is naturally a low pest crop. So fewer sprays are needed. Frozen peas because when you're processing the frozen peas, including the blanching, it does reduce the residues in them. And then sweet potato because sweet potato is a hearty

less pesticide intensive crop. So those are more clean, kind of like your clean 15 that they use in the States that you need to be less worried about from a pesticide exposure perspective. So for example, if you were buying organic fruits and vegetables because you were worried about pesticides, those ones there, you wouldn't need to be as worried about buying organic. So you could focus spending your money on organic products that were more from the

Are Our Fruits Safe? What Parents Need to Know About Pesticides (18:27.352)
high pesticide exposure groups such as your berries and your leafy green and your apples and pears and stone fruit. At the end of the day, if you can't buy organic, totally fine. Totally respect that. Just spending money on fresh fruits and vegetables is so important and making sure that you're washing them really well is key. If you want to soak them in the Biocub solution, absolutely fine. And buying fruits and vegetables in season is always going to be cheaper as well. So focusing on those

Fruits and vegetables that are currently in season means you can buy more of them and your kids and yourself benefit from eating those. Another way to reduce your child's overall exposure is to mix up those higher residue fruits and vegetables with the lower residue fruits and vegetables. And that's the way that you're going to overall reduce their exposure to any pesticide residues that are still on the fruits and vegetables. So we'll watch this space in terms of the blueberries.

and they are in season at the moment and they are delicious. And look, I'm still buying them. I bought a couple of punnets today, but yes, I did soak them well under running water for quite some time because I'm aware, as you're aware listening to this episode. So it's about awareness, cleaning our fruits and vegetables well and watching this space in terms of the blueberries. I think what it will do is it will end up affecting the farmers and what they can spray on the fruits, hopefully.

With organic farming, the risk to organic farming really is having a big enough buffer zone between the farms that use regular pesticides and the organic farms. And that's, guess, where the risk is to the organic farms. So let me know if you've got any questions about this episode. I hope it's cleared up some confusion and concern around fruits and vegetables and pesticide exposure. And really at the end of the day, it's

up to your personal preference and what you choose to do as a family, what you choose to spend your money on, how you choose to prepare your fruit and vegetables. But remember, fruit and vegetables are so important. I want you to keep feeding your kids plenty of fruits and vegetables, but just handling it with care and intention is the key. And mixing up those fruits and vegetables so that there are a good amount of the lower residue fruits and vegetables going in as well.

Outro (20:46.466)
So thanks for being here. If you love my podcast, please leave me a review and a star rating. It really helps to get the podcast app to more people. I can't wait to chat with you again next time and I hope you have a great week. Bye for now.